


Two Kinds

by AnimationAdventures



Category: Danny Phantom, Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Crossover, do not copy to another site
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-01-22
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:22:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 32,963
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28486788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnimationAdventures/pseuds/AnimationAdventures
Summary: Due to magic shenanigans in history, the families of Marinette and her class settle in Amity Park instead of Paris. At the start of ninth grade, strange things start to happen, including ghosts haunting the town and citizens being turned into villains by evil butterflies. Ladybug, Chat Noir, and Phantom have to work together to protect everyone.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Nino Lahiffe, Alya Césaire & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Danny Fenton & Sam Manson, Danny Fenton & Tucker Foley
Comments: 17
Kudos: 30





	1. Two Kinds of Prologues

Two Kinds of Prologues

Two months. That was how long it had been since his mother was declared a missing person, and no evidence of her disappearance had surfaced in the interim. It frustrated Adrien even more than he already was.

After his short reprieve from schoolwork during the initial investigation, his father ordered that he return to his studies. His mother had been in charge of his schooling, but with her gone, his father assigned Nathalie to take over in addition to her usual work as his assistant. He didn't mind the work; he enjoyed learning. He was tired of the atmosphere. His father had become a reclusive man since his mother's disappearance, throwing himself into his work and barely speaking more than a sentence a day to Adrien. Nathalie, though she spoke to him more often than his father, wasn't much better. She was professional, formal, and apparently emotionless. Not once in the entire time he knew Nathalie had he seen her smile.

It was Nathalie's professionalism that frustrated Adrien when it came to his homeschooling. His mother had been more engaging in his lessons, and that made being homeschooled bearable. Without that, he'd rather study on his own. Except, he craved human interaction. Even when it was modeling business, he enjoyed being able to talk to his coworkers.

Thankfully, he had a plan that would return the engaging lessons and grant him the social life he wanted. He had been putting together this plan for a while, regardless of his mother's presence or lack thereof, and her vanishing only made him even more determined to make it happen.

With a little help from Chloe, come September, he'd be attending public school for the first time. He could hardly wait for his first day.

* * *

Across the town of Amity Park in a hi-tech basement, Danny was poking around with his two best friends, Sam and Tucker.

"Guys, we really shouldn't be down here without my parents. We could get in serious trouble if we messed up some project of theirs," Danny protested as Tucker went from table to table examining his parents' various inventions while Sam took pictures with the camera she had brought with her.

Tucker dismissed his concern with a wave of his hand. "Relax. We're not touching anything, just observing. I don't even know what most of this stuff does, but it looks hi-tech and that is cool."

Sam rolled her eyes. "Trust you to geek out over something without even knowing what it does." She snapped a picture of whatever Tucker was looking at, regardless.

"I know it does something involving ghosts, and I think that's enough," Tucker retorted. Leaving the table he was at, he walked over to a strange gaping hole in the wall. "Hey, what's this? Some sort of funky-shaped closet?"

Danny shook his head. "Nah, it's just some dumb portal my parents built recently. They're trying to access this Ghost Zone thing that they think exists. I was down here when they first tried turning it on, but nothing happened. Of all their inventions, that one has been the biggest dud yet."

"A dud, huh?" Tucker smirked at the Ghost Portal, and Danny instantly didn't like the look on his friend's face. "I dare you to step inside it."

"What? No way, I am not doing that. Sam," Danny refused, looking to his female best friend for support.

Sam snapped another picture of some other project in the room, finally turning towards the boys. "Hey, we're already being typical rebellious teenagers by coming down here without your parents' okay." She formed a smile that matched Tucker's. "I say we take it a step further, and do something dumb."

"Are you siding with Tucker because you agree with him, or because you want this to be another way of sticking it to your parents?" asked Danny, raising an eyebrow.

"Mostly the second one," the girl admitted, "but, ghosts are sort of cool."

"Ooh, if you're going in the portal, put on a jumpsuit like your parents." Tucker found where Danny's parents kept the family's jumpsuits, and shoved a white and black one at him that appeared his size.

Danny held up an objective hand. "Whoa, I did not agree to this."

Sam snapped a picture of Danny holding the jumpsuit. "Just do it. You know we're going to bug you until you do."

He threw his head back with a loud groan. "Ugh, fine, but you guys are paying the next time we go to Nasty Burger." The black-haired boy started to slip into the suit.

"Wait," Sam protested for a moment, reaching out and peeling a sticker bearing Danny's father's face off of it. "Don't want to meet ghosts with this thing on your chest."

"Not going to meet any ghosts," he muttered, pulling the suit on. "Ugh, don't know how Mom and Dad wear these."

"Aw, look at you," Tucker teased with a smile. "It looks like you're ready to join the family business."

Danny crossed his arms. "Not in this lifetime. If there's a career I'm going into, it's being an astronaut."

"Okay, now stand over by the portal and the gauges like you're ready to get working," Sam said, pointing at a spot by the machine. Danny rolled his eyes, but went where she directed. She took a picture. "Now, the moment we've been waiting for. Walk inside it."

"Yeah, the main event," Tucker commented, gleefully rubbing his hands together.

"You guys are enjoying this way too much," said Danny as he peered inside the inactive portal. "This is a really bad idea."

"Dude, just walk to the back and then walk back out, then this will all be over," Tucker urged him.

"And I'll take a picture on your way out," Sam added, "make it look like you just came back from a mission inside the Ghost Zone."

With his friends insisting, Danny decided to get it over with, and stepped inside.

"Well, I'm two steps in and it's really dark in here. How'd my parents even get anything done with this kind of lighting?" Danny said as he got further in.

"Almost at the end there, man," Tucker encouraged, still able to see Danny's form from his watching area.

Without warning, Danny spun around right as Sam took another photo. "You know what? This is stupid. I'm not going all the way-!"

In his haste to turn back, Danny blindly swung a hand out and brushed a panel in the machine, accidentally pressing a green button.

ZAAAAAAP!

"Danny!" Sam and Tucker yelled as the portal filled with blindingly green light.

All they could hear in return was a fourteen-year-old boy's pained screams.

In a small massage parlor elsewhere in town, a green little creature lifted his head, aware of the shift in the balance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They get their powers from magic jewelry. He got his powers from an accident. Their enemies come from evil butterflies. His enemies come from another realm. Those are the differences between them. The similarities? They are teen superheroes with absurdly wealthy men as their adversaries.
> 
> I must be crazy for starting another multi-chapter project, but this idea stood out to me. I liked the idea of combining both shows to make one awesome story. I'll be upfront with everyone, this is going to follow the shows' stories merged into one setting. The twist? The Miraculous Ladybug side will have a stronger sense of continuity! By pairing Miraculous Ladybug with a continuity-driven show like Danny Phantom, everything will have to follow an order to an extent. My goal with this is to follow both shows through their second seasons, and then diverge from canon a bit because both shows' third seasons are garbage. That said, I won't be totally adhering to canon entirely until then, I do have plans for changes that make sense plot wise and for character development.
> 
> Not counting the prologue, I have written up to chapter seven just to prove to myself that juggling these two shows together can work. I was originally going to wait until I got to at least Lady WiFi to upload, but I'm too excited to share this to wait. Tune in next week when I post the first chapter, which will be the Origins chapter.


	2. One Kind of Origin Story, Part One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the first day of freshman year. Nothing bad can happen on only the first day, right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so the origin story begins. While we have no clue when Danny's powers originally came into play during his freshman year, here we can pinpoint them to the month before freshman year started. I have a lot of notes I want to go over, so for this project I will be using footnotes. Since there is a character limit to the chapter notes, if I ever have too many footnotes that cannot fit in the chapter note sections, they will be included within the chapter document at the bottom.

One Kind of Origin Story, Part One

"A long time ago, magic accessories were created to allow humans to wield the powers of creatures like me known as kwamis. With these accessories, they could channel our powers, and use them to become heroes. Throughout history, many have wielded the Miraculous. There are several Miraculous, but two are stronger than the rest. There's the earrings of the Ladybug, which grant the power of creation, and the ring of the Black Cat, which grants the power of destruction. Legend has it that when used together, they can grant someone the most power imaginable."

"That power… I want it, Nooroo. I must have those Miraculous."

"But Master, you don't know where they are. Even I don't know."

"Then we'll just have to find them, or better yet, let them come to us. Remind me of your powers."

"The Miraculous of the Butterfly grants the power of transmission. Your ability is called Metamorphosis, and allows you to give another person super powers as well as communicate with them in their mind." [1]

"Excellent. With your power to create heroes or villains, I should gain the attention of whoever has the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculous."

"Um, what did you mean by villains? Master, the brooch of the Butterfly should not be used for evil purposes."

"It's the only way to get what I desire. I need that power. Now, tell me how to invoke the transformation."

"I really shouldn't…"

"I am your master now. You obey me. The transformation!"

"…Say my name… and then 'wings rise'…"

"Good, but let's see if we can twist that into something more sinister. Nooroo, dark wings rise!" [2]

As Nooroo went inside the brooch, a wave of glistening, white butterflies washed over his master. When the transformation was complete, Nooroo's master stood in a dark purple suit with a silver mask over their face and a cane in their hand.

"Amity Park deserves to know who is interrupting their peaceful life, and The Butterfly doesn't sound very wicked at all. No, Amity Park shall know me as Hawk Moth."

* * *

Wayzz had been sleeping when he felt yet another shift in the natural balance. Two shifts in one month, one each from different sources? Something was not right.

Flying out of the gramophone, he saw that Wang Fu was working with a client. Normally, he'd wait until his chosen closed the parlor for the night, but this was an emergency. As stealthily he could without the customer seeing him, he went to Master Fu's cheek, prodding him silently. The old man opened one eye as he did some strange ritual for his massage work. Wayzz made some motions that told Fu in no uncertain terms that they needed to speak. Right away.

"I'm sorry," Wang Fu began telling the client and helping him up. "We'll have to cut this appointment short. Please come by next week, and we'll be sure to have a complete session. Thank you." As politely as he could, he ushered the customer out the door and shut it.

Wayzz flew over to his chosen. "Master, I felt the Butterfly Miraculous."

"What? I thought the Butterfly Miraculous had been lost with the Peafowl." [3]

"Apparently not, and there's more, the aura was negative. I fear that the Butterfly Miraculous has fallen into the wrong hands."

"In that case, we must find Nooroo and his Miraculous at once." Master Fu lifted his arm that bared the bracelet of the Turtle Miraculous. "Wayzz- gack!" He prepared to transform, but his back went stiff.

Wayzz held up green flippers. "Master, be careful. You're-!"

"Young, and only 186, I know," Fu cut his kwami's caution short. "But perhaps, you may have a point. Even if we do find Nooroo, we may not be able to rescue him and secure his Miraculous on our own. We will need help." Allowing his back to recover, Fu walked over to where the gramophone sat, retrieving his step stool so he could be at the proper height to reach it. Pressing his thumbs to the eyes of the dragons decorating the musical instrument, he opened a secret panel and pressed four buttons. The top of the gramophone popped open and a large black and red box rose out from inside it.

"Master, there is something else." Wayzz flew up beside him as he reached for the box. "A few weeks ago, I sensed another thing of possible significance. In addition to the Butterfly Miraculous being used for evil, ghosts have gained a greater means of entry to Earth."

Master Fu shook his head gravely. "That's not good. While magical creatures and their abilities like the kwamis and their powers are somewhat compatible with paranormal beings such as ghosts, they are not able to combat them as effectively. If we are not able to fight them properly, then who?" [4]

* * *

Danny pulled on his red and white shirt, completing his outfit for the day.

"Okay, first day in a new school except this time I have to be careful with my ghost powers, or I'll be labeled as a freak. No pressure, Danny, no pressure at all," the new high school freshman sarcastically quipped. Grabbing his backpack, he left his room and went downstairs to the kitchen to grab a bite for breakfast. As he walked into the dining area, he found his dad, already dressed in his favorite orange jumpsuit, tinkering with something at the table. "Uh, Dad? What're you doing up here? I'm pretty sure Jazz said a normal family doesn't try to build ghost weapons at the table, especially this early."

"Hey, Danny-boy! First day of high school, isn't that exciting? First step into the big leagues of academics," Jack stated eagerly, briefly looking up to smile at his son.

"Sure, but seriously what are you doing? With a soup thermos, and where's Mom?" Danny asked, briefly looking around for his other parent.

"She's downstairs in the lab, taking the morning readouts from the Ghost Portal. I don't know what you and your friends did down there to make it start working, but it was a really big help." Jack frowned, recalling what happened that day from his viewpoint. "Er, sorry. Probably still a sore subject with the accident and all."

Danny shrugged. "Nah, I've gotten over it. It's fine." As far as his parents knew, he came out of that incident with accidentally turning on the Ghost Portal without any bizarre side effects. Knowing his parents and their profession, it was probably a smart idea to keep anything related to ghosts and powers to himself and his friends.

"And to answer your question, this is our latest tool in ghost catching. Behold," Jack introduced the object, holding it up with one hand. "The Fenton Thermos, looks like a regular thermos meant to contain soup, beverages, and other liquids, but nope! It's a thermos designed to suck any and all ghosts within range inside and contain them. As a bonus, the size is perfect for traveling on the go, so you can use it at any time. Fenton-tastic, right?"

The device looked like a regular thermos outfitted with a bunch of tech on the side, and under normal circumstances, Danny would think nothing of it. It being in his father's hand and nearly pointing in his direction, though, was kinda worrisome. The fourteen-year-old took a step back.

"Yeah, Dad. Really… that. I'm going to head out and meet up with Sam and Tucker at school. Get there early enough to roam and get a feel for the place, you know?"

His dad seemed to understand since he nodded his head. "Sure thing! Have a good day, and we'll see you after you get back." Setting the thermos back down on the table, he started tweaking it with some tools.

Spinning around on his heel, Danny started making his way to the front door, only for him to not feel the floor beneath his footsteps. Looking down, he bit back a yelp of shock when he noticed that he was floating. Shooting a panicked look at his dad, who didn't seem to be paying attention, he scrambled to get his feet connecting with the carpet floor again.

He managed to get his feet back on the floor right before his mother emerged from the downstairs lab, wearing her blue jumpsuit.

"Oh, Danny! Glad I caught you." Maddie crossed the living room, and kissed her son on the cheek. "Look at you, my little boy already off to high school."

"Mom…" Danny groaned in embarrassment. Thank goodness Sam and Tucker weren't here to see this, or anybody else for that matter.

She stroked her son's face once. "Just excited for you, sweetie. That's all, and soon you'll be off to college."

"If you're going to be excited about going off to college, shouldn't you be all over Jazz? She's going to be starting there far sooner than I am," Danny felt the need to point out.

Speaking of, Jazz came downstairs, ready for school much more than Danny was. She took one look at the kitchen table, and frowned.

"Dad! Can we start one school year without experimenting where we eat?" The sixteen-year-old began to lecture as she walked over.

Danny smirked at his mother. "See, she's already acting like she's ranting at a messy roommate."

Maddie shook her head with a playful smile. "I guess you have a point there. But, she's not the one starting in a new place."

"That's fair." Danny waved farewell, resuming his exit. "Alright, see you after school. I'll probably hang out with Sam and Tucker after classes finish, but I won't be out too late."

"Bye!"

Once he was outside, he looked up at the giant sign that hung outside his family's home, advertising their ghost hunting business.

Here's hoping for a not-disastrous day.

* * *

"Bye Mom, Bye Dad!"

Marinette exited her family's bakery with a box of treats in hand. Every year, she would bring a box for her classroom. In elementary school, it was her class, and then the last few years, it had been her homeroom, the closest thing that had resembled her elementary class. Starting today, she would also be making a short walk to the school she would be attending for the next four years. [5]

Reaching the corner of the street, she joined the other pedestrians waiting to cross the road. Most of them were other teenagers on their way to school, and they were also focused on their phones.

Because everyone else was distracted, she was the only one to notice an old man with a cane trying to cross the road. Probably senile because he didn't realize it wasn't the right time to cross.

Marinette looked down the road, and saw an oncoming car on course to collide with the elderly man.

"Ah!" Shrieking, Marinette made the split-second choice to rush out onto the street and pull him out of harm's way.

They had just barely cleared the crosswalk when the car drove through right where the elderly man had just been crossing. Nobody else must've seen it happen because the other pedestrians didn't comment on it, and began to cross the road now that the crosswalk light was green.

"Thank you, miss," the old man thanked her once their safety was assured. "Oh my, I'm terribly sorry. You dropped your sweets."

He was referring to the box of treats Marinette had dropped in her haste to help him. A few macarons spilled out onto the sidewalk. Marinette picked up the box, and was relieved to see that only a few had left the box instead of many.

"It's okay," she assured him. "I have bad luck like this all the time, and I think I'll still have enough to share with my homeroom. Want a macaron?" She offered the box to him.

"Don't mind if I do." He accepted a green one, and took a bite. "Delicious."

"There's more where that came from. This is my family's bakery right here." She gestured to the building behind her that she had just left minutes ago. A bell rang slightly far off. "Oh no, that's the warning bell. I'm going to be late!" Making sure the crosswalk light was still green, she hurried across the street and down the block towards her school. "Have a nice day, sir!"

Watching Marinette leave, Wang Fu looked up at the bakery Marinette had just indicated with a smile.

"Thank you very much, young lady," he said to himself.

* * *

Marinette scrambled to find her homeroom. As excited she was to meet the students she would be spending the free period with, she just didn't want to be late on the first day.

When she got there, she was quick to recognize most of her classmates. There was Nino in the front row, slouched over in his desk. While they had a few class periods together the past few years, they were never really that close; sure, they played together when they were in the same elementary school class, but they drifted apart to pursue their individual interests. Then there were Rose, Juleka, Kim, Max, and Nathaniel, they had been together in homeroom with Marinette two years ago. She recognized Danny, Sam, and Tucker, the three of them occupying the back corner. She probably shared a period with each of them only once in middle school, but it was hard to forget them with the way Sam stood out in her goth attire, Tucker with his red beret, and Danny, who looked average, was easy to remember since his parents were the town's resident ghost hunters. That explained why Nino, who usually preferred the back corner, was in the front row. It looked like her class also included Ivan and Mylene; she knew Ivan was quiet, and that Mylene was easily scared from the few occasions that she worked with them on assignments. The only person that Marinette didn't appear to recognize was a redhead wearing a plaid shirt and jeans near the window in the front row a few seats away from Nino. [6]

Huh. Small class.

To Marinette's pleasure, her favorite spot in any classroom was open. The row behind Nino, one to the right. It wasn't right next to the wall so she'd be practically shoved against it if the classroom needed to be rearranged, and it was close to the door in case a quick exit (usually due to humiliation by Chloe) was needed. Being in the second row also meant that she hopefully wouldn't be put on the spot by a teacher very much. She was fine answering a teacher's question, but not that frequently.

"Marinette Dupain-Cheng!"

Oh no. Not again.

Chloe marched into the room, closely followed by Sabrina.

"That's my seat," Chloe stated, slapping her hand down on the desk.

"Here we go again," Marinette muttered under her breath before speaking up, "Chloe, this has always been my seat."

Sabrina slid into the desk next to hers. "Not anymore! New school, new year, new seats." [7]

Chloe nodded. "Yeah. In fact, speaking of new, why don't you go sit next to that new girl over there?" She pointed at the new redheaded girl, who appeared to be clicking at her phone and looked up when she realized she was being talked about. "Listen. Adrien's arriving today, and since that's going to his seat," she explained, motioning to the seat next to Nino in front of them. "This is going to be my seat."

Marinette and Chloe didn't see it, but Sam's head shot up curiously at the mention of Adrien.

"Who's Adrien?" Marinette asked, completely lost.

Chloe and Sabrina began to laugh.

"You don't know who Adrien is? What rock have you been living under?" Chloe mocked.

"He's only a famous model," Sabrina stated as if Adrien's identity was obvious.

"And I am his best friend," Chloe bragged, "he adores me. So go on, move!"

The unfamiliar redhead stood up from her seat, eyeing the situation furiously. "Hey! Who elected you Queen of Seats?"

Chloe laughed again, sharing a look with Sabrina. "Look, Sabrina! We have a little do-gooder in our class this year. What are you gonna do, super newbie? Shoot lasers at me with your glasses?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" The new girl retorted, grabbing Marinette by the hand and pulling her out of the seat. "Come on, girl. You can sit next to me."

"Um, okay?" Marinette quickly grabbed her things as she was hauled away, nearly dropping more macarons from her box.

Before Chloe could throw some tantrum about not being done teasing Marinette, their homeroom teacher arrived.

"Hi, everyone! I'm Miss Bustier, and I'll be your homeroom teacher this year," the red-haired teacher introduced herself, standing at the front of the room. "Has everyone found a seat?"

Marinette sheepishly smiled at the new girl. "Thanks for getting me out of there. I wish I could handle Chloe the way that you did."

The girl's eyes lit up. "Oh, you mean like how Majestia does?" Bringing up a picture on her phone, she showed Marinette the image of a comic book heroine with a purple M on her suit. "She says 'all that is necessary for evil to triumph is that good people do nothing'. That girl is evil, and we're the good people. We can't let her get away with it." She gestured to Chloe.

Marinette sighed, thinking of the past. "Easier said than done. She's been making my life miserable for the past several years."

"Well, maybe you just need more confidence. She can't push you around if you don't let her."

Marinette wasn't sure what it was about the new girl, but she made sharing a classroom with Chloe suddenly a lot more tolerable. Taking a macaron from her box of goodies, she handed it over to her desk neighbor. "I'm Marinette Dupain-Cheng."

"Alya Cesaire." The newly-named Alya accepted the macaron.

As Miss Bustier started an introductory discussion about the year, Marinette cast a glance back at Chloe, who was sulking in the seat that Marinette had left. That was strange. Didn't she get what she wanted?

"Ugh, where is he?" Chloe muttered to herself.

* * *

Adrien ran down the street towards the school with a sleek silver car in pursuit. He was almost there. The young teen could almost feel the metal of his own locker, the weight of his lunch tray as he looked for a seat in the cafeteria, the eyes of new classmates that would ultimately become his friends!

As he approached the front entrance, the car pulled alongside the curb and Nathalie climbed out in a hurry along with Adrien's bodyguard, who he affectionately called the Gorilla.

"Adrien," Nathalie called out to him, "please reconsider! You know what your father wants."

Adrien swiveled around to face her. "This is what I want!" He heard a grunt and looked over at the crosswalk in the opposite direction he had come from. An elderly man, possibly in his eighties, had fallen and couldn't reach his cane. Ever the helpful soul, Adrien hurried over to assist the man back up.

"Thank you, young man," the man said with a kind smile. He hobbled on his way.

Turning back to enter the school, Adrien frowned in dismay when he saw Nathalie and the Gorilla blocking his entry. Sighing in defeat, he approached them with pitiful eyes. "I just want to go to school with everyone else. What's wrong with that?" They escorted him back to the car. "Please don't tell my father."

The car started up again, and looped around to return to the Agreste Mansion. If any of them had been paying attention, they would've noticed the old man watching them leave.

"I believe we have found him, Wayzz," Master Fu stated confidently, his kwami coming out of a pocket. The Guardian pointed at the car. "Follow him and find out where he lives. We must act fast." [8]

* * *

The students went through their first day back in school, already sinking into disinterest as the teachers spent their first lessons going over the syllabus and their schedule for the year. To alleviate his boredom, Kim thought it would be funny to write notes. When the teacher's back was turned, he slipped notes to those sitting around him. He shared his last period with Ivan, and the broad-shouldered freshman sat several spots away from his seat. Figuring he could catch Ivan at the end of class, Kim wrote one last note before the bell rung.

As the students gathered their things and exited the classroom, Kim quickly did the same, hurrying to catch up with Ivan before he lost sight of his classmate.

"Hey, Ivan! Wait up!" Kim called out.

Grunting in acknowledgement, Ivan slowed once he was out in the hall, allowing Kim to join him.

"What?" Ivan grumbled. He was not a social person, and didn't do small talk.

"Just wanted to give you this. Here, take it." Kim handed him a note. "I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" Kim then ran off to do whatever he had next on his agenda. [9]

Ivan watched him disappear around the corner for a moment, and then unfolded the crumpled note that he had been given.

_You haven't even got the guts to tell Mylene that you love her, wuss._

What? How'd Kim even know about that? And who was he calling a wuss?

Anger ran through Ivan's veins, and he rushed forward. "Kim!"

Rounding the corner, he found that Kim had already vanished from sight. That only served to make him madder.

-LB-CN-P-

"Yes. Increased negative emotions, that's what I was looking for. You will do nicely for my first. A tough exterior with a hard heart." Hawk Moth commented, the only window to his lair opening and causing the white butterflies around him to take flight. Holding out his hand, he waited as one landed in his hand, covering it with the other and injecting dark energy into the creature. "Fly, my little akuma, and evilize him!"

The butterfly flew out the window in search of the target.

-LB-CN-P-

Not entirely sure where to look without looking like even more of a fool, Ivan stomped into the nearest boys' restroom and sat in a stall. As this would come to be the first time this happened, he didn't even watch for the darkened butterfly that slipped through a window crack. The butterfly landed on the note crushed in his hand and turned it purple.

Ivan's head shot up as the area around his eyes turned red and a purple outline of a butterfly hovered in front of his face.

"Stoneheart, I am Hawk Moth," the villain introduced himself through the link Nooroo had mentioned. "I give you the power to get revenge on those who have wronged you."

A sinister grin formed on Ivan's lips. "Okay, Hawk Moth." A wave of purple energy washed over him and expanded.

As the transformation took place, another boy wandered into the restroom and was about to use one of the urinals when he heard a loud bang.

"What was that?" He wondered, looking over at the stalls.

Just as he was about to take a closer look, a giant thing of stone burst out of a stall, ruining the others in the process.

"KIM!" The thing roared.

"Holy crap!" The boy yelled, scrambling to get out. His need to use a urinal was no longer necessary. The monster saw him leaving, and followed him. Too big to fit through the door, he decided to go through the door and the wall surrounding it instead.

"KIM!" The rock monster boomed as chunks of wall fell around him.

Several students lingering in the hallway screamed, running away at their fastest speed possible.

Stoneheart watched them flee, but couldn't pick out the person he was seeking. It looked like he still needed to do some searching. Picking a direction, he trudged down the hall.

* * *

Meanwhile, Marinette and Alya relocated to the library after the final bell, wanting to get to know each other better.

"You have how many sisters?" Marinette asked as the conversation swerved into the topic of their families.

"Three. One older, and two younger. My older sister, Nora, she's a boxer. She graduated high school earlier this year and could've stayed back where we were, but she wanted to stay with us to help out. That, and she was interested in the local boxing circuit." Alya tapped at her phone as she talked, informing her family that she was staying after school with her new friend for a little while.

"What about your younger sisters?"

"Ella and Etta? They're twins, and let me tell you, because there's two of them, they're a pair of little-."

Before Alya could finish her sentence, the library felt like it shook.

Grabbing at the table for stability, Marinette asked Alya, "What was that?"

Having no answer herself, Alya leaped from her seat to the nearest window and looked out. Her eyes nearly bugged out of her skull. "Marinette, come look!"

Reluctantly, Marinette joined her new friend, as did a few other students that were in the library at the time.

Out the window, they could see the school's soccer field. Stoneheart was there, having just burst through the wall.

"KIM!" The monster roared again.

Kim was among several students out on the field, and he felt all eyes, including the monster's, turn towards him. He flinched at the sound of his name, and let out a sharp yelp when Stoneheart began to move in his direction. The other kids fled four their own safety, and after a second, Kim realized he needed to do the same, rushing off the campus. Stoneheart kept his sights on the boy, following at a lumbering pace.

Alya stared at the departing monster, and gripped her phone tight, moving to head for the library's exit. "I have got to get footage of this!"

"Alya!" Marinette reached a hand out to try and stop her. "Where are you going?"

"When there's a monster or a supervillain, superheroes are always close behind," Alya answered with a brief turn back. "And I'm going to see it when it happens."

"She might want to run into danger, but I'm going to run away from it." Marinette murmured, looking at all the fleeing students around her, and figured it might be a good idea to run home to where it was safe.

Down below the library, students warily approached the giant hole Stoneheart had made, Danny and his friends among them.

"Guys," Danny started to say to Sam and Tucker, a nervous, almost bad feeling forming in his gut.

"Go," Sam urged, Tucker nodding his head beside her.

Without any further prompting, Danny ran for the nearest hiding spot he could find. He ducked into an empty classroom, closing the door behind him and beginning to transform.

Danny's appearance changed. His black hair had gone white, his blue eyes turned an ectoplasm green, and his clothes changed into the jumpsuit Tucker had given him to put on when he was dared to step into the Ghost Portal, except the white and black colors were inverted.

With the transformation complete, he used his ghost powers to turn intangible and flew out the classroom window to hunt down Stoneheart.

* * *

Across town at the Agreste Mansion, Adrien was right back where he started and didn't want to be. In his dining room alone with Nathalie, continuing his homeschool lessons. In the middle of his history lesson, his father interrupted.

"Nathalie? Could we have a moment?" Gabriel asked his assistant.

"Of course, sir." Nathalie stepped to the side.

When he saw that she had stationed herself against the wall, giving the illusion that she was out of the conversation, he focused on his son. "I already told you, Adrien. You are not going to school!"

"Father!" Adrien tried to protest, feeling betrayed that Nathalie had told his father about sneaking out. "I already registered for the year!"

"Not possible! How could you even manage that?"

Adrien's eyes narrowed, the stinging betrayal of Nathalie giving way to the defiant nature that allowed him to pull off his act in the first place. "I have ways, Father, but I'll never tell. I'm going to school with other kids." [10]

"You're not other children. You're my son!" Gabriel glanced at Nathalie. "Continue with the lessons, and see to it that Adrien's registration is withdrawn." With nothing else to say, the fashion designer returned to his atelier.

When Gabriel left the room, Nathalie noticed how upset Adrien appeared and tapped at her tablet. "If you'd like, we can pick this up-!"

Adrien needed to hear nothing more. Shoving his schoolwork aside, he sprinted out of the dining room.

In the safety of his room, he curled up on his bed with the intention to remain there for the rest of the day when he heard a banging noise. Curious, he climbed out of bed and went to the large windows on one side of his room. He could see cars being thrown and people running and screaming.

There was no way his father would let him go out and investigate, but he knew how to get a closer look at what was happening without leaving his room. Jumping on his couch, he turned on his TV, not taking notice of the box sitting his table. [11]

Amity Park's main reporter, Nadja Chamack, appeared on the screen.

"As strange as it might seem, Amity Park is under attack by a giant rock monster," she informed those watching. "The police have been called in to fight this strange creature and are en route, and wait- what? Breaking news, there's been a development in this story. It looks like… a superhero?"

* * *

"KIM!" Stoneheart yelled for the umpteenth time that afternoon, trudging down one of Amity Park's streets after the boy.

"Hey, Rocks for Brains!" A familiar voice shouted out, getting the akuma's attention. The rock monster turned, and saw Danny flying towards him. "Didn't you hear? School is back in session!" Rearing a fist back, he slugged Stoneheart in the center of his face, managing to shove him back a few feet.

Stoneheart let out a guttural growl, and shone with light, growing bigger.

Danny raised his eyebrows. "Whoa. Okay, hitting you makes you bigger. Good to know."

Having followed Stoneheart from the school, Alya grinned while she filmed the whole thing on her phone. "A real superhero. I knew it!"

* * *

Marinette watched the news feed of the fight, curled up on her computer chair in fright.

"Huh. Alya might've been onto something," she mused. Looking away from her monitor to grab her phone, she noticed a black and red box on her desk.

"What's this?" Marinette and Adrien wondered at the same time, the latter noticing the box in his room as well.

Marinette opened the box, and was greeted by a red light. When it faded, a small red creature with black spots dotting its body hovered in front of her.

"Ah! Giant bug mouse!" Marinette yelped, recoiling with fear.

"It's okay. Don't be scared."

"The bug mouse talks!" Marinette started throwing things to defend herself, but the red creature easily flew out of the way.

* * *

Adrien opened his, and the light that flashed in his face was green. The light disappeared, and a floating black cat was in front of him.

"Whoa, are you like the genie in the lamp?" Adrien prompted, his curiosity getting the better of him.

"No, but I met one of them once. Big deal if they can grant wishes. I'm way more interesting. The name's Plagg. You got anything to eat?" The flying cat replied, starting to float around Adrien's room and try eating things.

"Hey, don't eat that!" Adrien demanded, chasing after Plagg.

* * *

"Marinette, I know things seem scary." The red creature tried to reason, but the panicked Marinette trapped it under a clear cup. "Okay, if that makes you feel better."

Now that she had the creature trapped, Marinette regarded it warily. "What are you, and how do you know my name?"

"My name is Tikki, and I'm a kwami. Allow me to explain."

* * *

While Plagg tried to eat Adrien's TV remote, Adrien finally got him in his hands after making a dive jump from his rock-climbing wall.

"Okay, I know your name, but I don't know what you're doing in my room," said Adrien.

"I'm a kwami, and I can grant you the power of destruction." Plagg turned in Adrien's hands.

"Uh…"

Plagg sent a critical glance around Adrien's bedroom. "Seriously though, you have anything to eat around here? I'm starving."

"Is my father pranking me?" Adrien asked, then thought better of it. "Nah, he has no sense of humor."

Plagg squirmed his way out of Adrien's grip. "Your father can't know about me. No one can."

* * *

"Mom!" Marinette reached for the trapdoor that would let her go downstairs to the rest of the house.

"No, wait!" Tikki phased through the cup she was trapped under, stopping Marinette. "You're the only one who can stop that akuma." She motioned one of her arms at the newsfeed on Marinette's computer. Danny was doing his best to prevent the akuma from causing damage without attacking it and making it grow bigger.

"But… I can't be a superhero. My only superpower is super clumsiness," debated Marinette. "My new friend I made at school today, Alya, she'd be a much better choice. She knows all about superheroes."

"My apologies, but it has to be you. You're the chosen one to wield the Ladybug Miraculous."

* * *

"KIM!" Stoneheart roared, finally finding his target again.

Kim attempted to flee, and Stoneheart threw a parked car at him to prevent his escape. Danny acted quickly, grabbing the boy and flying away with him.

"Gotcha," Danny said.

"Whoa, thanks man," Kim replied in stunned gratefulness.

* * *

"But I'm stuck here. How can I be a superhero when I'm locked in my own house?" inquired Adrien. He was starting to see why Plagg was giving him the chance to have destructive powers. The little kwami was already causing destruction in a way by unrolling the toilet paper from his bathroom all over his floor.

"That's why you gotta break out, kid," Plagg replied, seemingly encouraging the idea of breaking rules. "With the power of the Black Cat Miraculous."

Adrien contemplated the silver ring in his palm.

* * *

Marinette held the black earrings in her hand, looking at herself in the mirror. Reluctantly, she put the earrings on. While her ears were pierced so she could put them on, Tikki had informed her that because they were magic earrings, they could magically attach in the event a chosen holder did not have pierced ears. [12]

"So I break the object where the akuma is hiding, and then cleanse it?" She clarified to Tikki.

"Yeah, and if you have any questions while you're transformed, look in your weapon. It'll have all the answers you need," affirmed Tikki. [13]

There was a knocking sound, and Marinette turned towards her trap door while Tikki quickly hid.

"Marinette, are you doing alright?" Marinette's mother, Sabine, asked as she peeked in through the door.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just… trying to think of a new design," Marinette lied quickly. "I think that rock monster has given me some interesting ideas to try out."

"Okay, just wanted to check on you and make sure the attack at school didn't shake you up too terribly. I have to get back to work." Sabine went back downstairs.

Once she was sure that her mother wasn't coming back up for something else, Marinette allowed herself a sigh of relief.

"Don't forget about the Lucky Charm. It's your secret power and will help you turn a fight back in your favor. Once you use it, you only have five minutes before you de-transform. When you're done with it, toss it up, say 'Miraculous Ladybug', and it'll clean up any damage in a fight involving Miraculous." Tikki flew back into the open, continuing where she had left off on the instructions.

Marinette grimaced as she nonetheless filed the information away in her mind. "I don't know if I can do this. When I started school today, I didn't expect to become a real-life superhero."

"You'll do great," Tikki reassured her. "Now, to transform, say 'Tikki, spots on'!"

"Okay…" Taking a deep breath, Marinette said loud enough for only the kwami to hear, "Tikki, spots on!"

* * *

Adrien adjusted the ring on his fourth finger, surprised to see that it fit perfectly.

"Nice! How do I transform?" Adrien wondered.

"That's easy. To invoke the transformation, say 'Plagg, claws out'!" Plagg helpfully added, poking his head out of the newly unrolled toilet paper tube.

"Got it. Plagg, claws out!"

"No, wait! There's more you need to kn-oooow!"

Adrien felt a wave of green wash over him, watching Plagg be sucked into the ring and turning it black with bright green cat claw pads decorating it. He would never forget the wild and chaotic feeling that rushed through his body. It felt so freeing, to wear something his father probably wouldn't approve of if he found out. A grin on his face, he ran a pair of fingers over his eyes as he felt a mask form and his eyes change. He raked his newly gloved hands through his hair, ruffling it up to match that wild sensation. As he did so, he felt a second set of ears form on top of his head that somehow felt different from his normal pair. A strange sensation was felt through his tailbone. If he had to guess, he suspected that he was getting an actual tail. To top it off, he was amused when a cat bell appeared at his neck. How'd the suit know he would get a kick out of that?

Weird, but at the same time it was the most interesting thing to happen to him in forever.

His transformation completed, and he stood in his room, wearing a black suit with gloves that looked like sharp cat claws.

"Cool," the superhero Adrien smiled.

* * *

Marinette wasn't sure what she expected. She was too alarmed by Tikki vanishing into her new earrings that she didn't pay attention to how her normal clothes were replaced by a red spandex suit with black spots and a mask with five spots forming on her face. A pair of red ribbons also looped around her pigtails, clenching them even tighter than they already were.

The transformation finished quickly, and Marinette found herself seeing her body in her mirror, examining the suit and noticing that the black earrings were now red and had five black spots. Already, she was feeling uncomfortable.

"This was a bad idea," she regretted. Seeing that Tikki was nowhere to be found, she realized she couldn't ask the kwami how to undo the transformation.

In hindsight, the kwami probably picked up on her nervousness and intentionally left that part out so she would give the superhero thing a try.

Clever little bug. Wait… what did she say about answers?

"Of course! The weapon!" Looking to her hip, she figured that the thing looped around her waist was probably it. Picking it up, she soon realized what the weapon was supposed to be. "A yo-yo? Strange choice for a superhero gadget. How does this thing work?" As she poked at it, she heard a news update.

"It looks like Amity Park's new hero is trying to lead the monster back to the school. Most of the students and faculty have evacuated, so Casper High might actually be a safe zone to fight it at the moment. Looks like since his fighting tactics weren't working, he decided to guide the monster away from the civilians." The voice of Nadja spoke up.

Marinette glanced at her computer, and saw Alya was still following the monster, who was following Danny, who was carrying Kim. She had thought Alya would try and follow it from a safe distance, but it looked like she was getting too close. If the news have spotted her on camera, then she was definitely too close to be considered safe.

"Alya!" Marinette couldn't help but call out.

She knew Alya was crazy for going after the monster in the first place, but she was a good person. Alya stood up to Chloe for her, even sat with her at lunch when she normally didn't have anybody to sit with on the first day. If Alya got hurt despite that new hero's best efforts to stop Ivan without any help, she'd never forgive herself.

She had to give this hero thing a try. For Alya.

Going downstairs where her parents could see her was not an option. The only other exit she had was their rooftop terrace. That would have to do.

Climbing up her bed, she reached for the trap door that led to the terrace and let herself outside.

"How am I supposed to get around?" She wondered to herself, palming the yo-yo. Giving it an experimental fling, she watched it loop around a hanging sign. When she tugged it back, she was the one being pulled instead of the yo-yo. "Waaaah!"

* * *

Elsewhere in Amity Park, superhero Adrien practiced using his weapon- a baton- as a bridge between building rooftops across streets. He liked to consider himself a good balancer, but as he crossed the baton, he felt like he was extra good at balancing. Maybe improved balance was a skill that came with the suit, or maybe it was the tail. He had learned in his studies that tails were used for balance in some animals. Either way…

"I'm getting the hang of this," he remarked.

A shrill yell attracted his attention, and before he could place what it was, he was crashed into by another costumed hero, this one mostly in red. She knocked him clear off his baton, and they would've fallen to the ground together if her yo-yo string hadn't caught on his baton and tangled them up.

"Hey there, nice of you to drop in," the black cat hero punned right off the bat.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to do it on purpose," the ladybug hero apologized.

The pair got untangled and up righted themselves on the street.

"You must be the hero with the Ladybug Miraculous my kwami told me about. My name is Chat Noir." When he snuck out, he had given thought to his hero name, and given his French roots, he thought it'd fit nicely. "What's yours?"

"My name? I haven't really thought about it. Yah!" She tried to untangle her yo-yo from his baton, which was still raised between the buildings, and squeaked unexpectedly when the two weapons suddenly came falling down towards them. Chat Noir easily caught his baton while her yo-yo fell onto the asphalt. "I was told about you too, but there's something I'm wondering. If there's already a hero fighting the akuma, then why do they need us? You know, besides for cleansing it?"

"Your guess is as good as mine. It looks like we're both learning the ropes here."

The red heroine looked around. "The reporter on the news said that other hero was leading the akuma back to the school it came from. We need to get there."

"Luckily for you," Chat Noir said with a confident grin. "I was already on my way there while I was trying out my new kicks. This way." Extending his baton, he vaulted to the rooftops. "Let's go help save Amity Park."

The hero of the Ladybug Miraculous groaned uncertainly, but spinning around her yo-yo for a good throw. "Trust yourself…" She threw her yo-yo in the same direction Chat Noir had went, and followed, screaming along the way.

* * *

"Come on, flying hero guy," Alya encouraged as she watched Danny fight Stoneheart on the school soccer field. Kim stood on the roof of the school, safely out of the monster's reach. "Punch it or kick it already!"

"Uh, how about you don't backseat fight?" Danny snapped back, dodging the monster's attempts to grab him. "Besides, every time it gets hit by something physically, it gets bigger."

"Watch out!" Alya pointed.

In the brief second that Danny had turned away from Stoneheart to reply to Alya, that second allowed Stoneheart to punch him. The half-ghost hero was sent sprawling several feet away into the grass.

The rock monster lumbered close to Danny, towering over the stunned hero.

"Crush him, Stoneheart," Hawk Moth ordered through their connection, "he is of no use to me!"

"Crush him," Stoneheart grunted, reaching down to crush Danny with his hand.

Danny started to recover from the punch, and had gotten himself up on his arms when he saw the huge rock hand about to grab him.

Clang!

A silver baton blocked the snatch, and soon Chat Noir stood between them.

"Hey," Chat Noir idly commented, not seeing Danny's bewildered stare behind him. "It's not nice to pick on people smaller than you."

"You mean you?" Stoneheart retorted, preparing to strike again.

Chat Noir was clearly anticipating it, but Danny beat him to reacting. Without warning, Danny picked up Chat Noir by the arms and flew him over Stoneheart's head.

"Whoa! Didn't quite need the assist, but thanks anyway," Chat Noir thanked the half-ghost.

"Just returning the favor. Wasn't expecting help to be honest," Danny replied, lowering closer to the ground several feet away from the rock monster and putting Chat Noir down on his feet.

"Just as I planned. The Miraculous of the Black Cat has been activated, and when that one's activated, the Miraculous of the Ladybug is sure to follow," Hawk Moth thought out loud.

Danny hovered next to Chat Noir, both clenching fists.

"Fair warning," Danny mentioned to his new crime-fighting friend, "with every hit that thing gets, it grows bigger. Avoid attacking it if you can."

"Thanks for the chip," Chat Noir winked, and then rushed forward.

Caught off-guard, Danny gawked as the black cat superhero went ahead. "Puns? Okay, I have a feeling we're going to get along just fine." Shaking his head in amusement, he flew over to join in giving the rock monster the runaround.

"Two superheroes? This first day of school just keeps getting better," Alya grinned on the sidelines, filming everything she could possibly contain on her phone.

On the roof of the school, the suited-up Marinette watched the fight go on, hesitant to join in. Kim was too baffled by the appearance of another actual superhero to say anything.

"There's two of them now. I'm sure they've got this," she tried to assure herself.

Any reassurances she tried to give faded away quickly when Stoneheart picked up a soccer net and chucked it in Alya's direction. Before she could even think of getting halfway down there to rescue her, Chat Noir used his baton to deflect the net away. The black cat superhero paused, glad to see his quick thinking worked.

"Watch out!" Danny swept in and picked up Chat Noir again.

"Is this going to be a regular thing now?" Chat Noir inquired.

Danny rolled his eyes. "I hope not."

The ladybug heroine watched as they circled around some more, the end of the fight apparently not coming soon.

"Hey! Red hero on top of the school?" Alya's voice snapped Marinette out of her spectating. She looked down, and saw that the new girl was looking specifically up at her. "What are you waiting for? The world is watching you."

"Uh…" Why wasn't she joining in? She had invoked Tikki's transformation, snuck out of the house, met the hero with the Black Cat Miraculous, and come to the fight. Even though she personally felt Alya would have been a better choice to be a hero, she was the one in the costume with the special powers. If she had to play hero just this once, so be it. Steeling her resolve, she leaped off the roof and made her way down to the field. Looping her yo-yo around one of Stoneheart's feet, she slid underneath the rock monster and gave a sharp tug of her string after coming out on the other side. "Lay down and stay down!" She pulled Stoneheart's foot out from under him, making him fall onto his huge back.

"Yes!" Alya cheered, proud that she had gotten a third hero engaged in the battle.

Danny flew over, dropping Chat Noir next to Marinette. "Another one? Just how many of us are dressing up to be heroes this year?"

"Hopefully, just the three of us," Marinette said. "There's another one out there, but they're the bad guy. They're the reason that monster is here." She pointed to Stoneheart.

Danny frowned at her. "Wait, you know what's going on?"

"A little, I'm still trying to process everything, but it's better than knowing nothing." She faced Chat Noir, face apologetic. "Sorry for not jumping in sooner, Chat Noir."

"It's cool, wonderbug," he assured her, "not all of us can dive in head first into this hero stuff."

"You two know each other?" Danny looked between them.

"We just met on the way over here," the heroine with the Ladybug Miraculous explained. "Our story is the same, but I'm not sure if we can tell you."

The half-ghost waved a dismissive hand. "That's alright. I don't exactly feel like telling you how I ended up like this, and just want to get this fight over with."

"We all do," Marinette agreed, "but how are we going to stop this guy without attacking him?"

"What about our special powers?" suggested Chat Noir.

"You have special powers?" Danny raised an eyebrow.

Chat Noir picked up his baton, and pointed to it. "Yeah. I found a section on my special power in the instruction guide in my weapon."

"Your weapon comes with instructions?" Danny's levels of disbelief skyrocketed. He raised his hands, annoyed. "Why do you guys get all this stuff to prepare you? I had to go into this blind."

"The monster is getting back up," Chat Noir pointed out, putting his baton on his back. "I'm going for it. Cataclysm!"

A sphere of black energy formed in his hand, rippling and ready to be unleashed.

Danny pointed a cautious finger at it. "Uh, what is that?"

Chat Noir grinned. "Cool, right? I can destroy whatever I touch." He reached for a nearby soccer net to demonstrate, but Marinette reached her hand out.

"Don't do that!" She cried out.

The destructive superhero touched the net, and it started to disintegrate. He watched it break apart with awe. "Cool! Time to rumble, soon-to-be rubble!"

"Chat Noir, wait!"

Chat Noir ran at Stoneheart, and slapped the hand he had used for Cataclysm on it. To his surprise, nothing happened. He looked up as Stoneheart growled, rearing a foot back.

"I guess I was only able to use Cataclysm the one time," he deduced, wincing. This was going to hurt.

Whack!

Danny and Marinette flinched as Chat Noir came rolling back to them.

"Now you only have five minutes before you transform back. Didn't your kwami warn you?" Marinette scolded.

Danny whistled, not expecting the twist. "Wow, not really jealous of you guys anymore if your costumes come with a time limit."

Chat Noir gave them a sheepish grin. "I guess I was just a little overexcited about my new life."

Marinette patted him on the shoulder. "You had the right idea. Now it's my turn. Lucky Charm!" She threw her yo-yo in the air, and a swarm of ladybugs emerged, forming an object that dropped down onto the grass.

"Your power gives you a mattress with ladybug polka dots?" Danny glanced at the object.

"Ooh, how'd it know I'd want a cat nap after this," joked Chat Noir.

"Not exactly. My Lucky Charm gives me something that's supposed to help us win fights. We need to use this to break the thing that the akuma is in. That should turn the monster back into whoever they were before," explained Marinette, staring at the mattress intently.

Danny raised a finger. "If it's any help, the whole time I've been fighting this guy, he's had his right fist closed." He pointed the finger at the indicated hand. Stoneheart was stomping towards them. They needed a plan, and fast. "I wasn't sure what the deal was with that, though."

Marinette narrowed her eyes in thought before widening them. "That's got to be where the akuma is. The object with the akuma is in there."

"So we get him to drop it. How do we do that?" Chat Noir asked.

Marinette started looking around. She saw Chat Noir, Danny, and Stoneheart's fist. She had a plan.

"Like this. Chat Noir, you and, um," she began to lay out a plan but stumbled upon the fact she had no clue what to call her third teammate.

Danny quickly cycled through ideas for a ghost-themed hero. From growing up with his parents, he knew spook, specter, spirit, ghoul… phantom. "Call me Phantom." [14]

She nodded, happy to have a name for him. "Phantom, you and Chat Noir need to rush the monster. Let him catch you, it'll make him drop the thing that has the akuma since he'll need both hands."

"Are you sure that's a good plan?" Chat Noir asked, not too keen on getting close and personal with the monster after that kick.

Phantom shrugged in reply. "Hey, it's either this, or keep playing a cat and mouse game all day."

While the cat-themed hero groaned, Marinette got ready. "Go on three. One, two… three!"

Reluctantly, Chat Noir followed Phantom in charging at Stoneheart and jumping up in a fake attack. Marinette used her enhanced strength from her magic suit to grab the red and black mattress, throwing it under the captured boys. She spotted a round, purple thing fall from the hand that snatched Phantom, and ran over to it. She crushed it under her foot, and smiled when the akuma emerged, fluttering away.

The connection to the akuma severed, Stoneheart's form rippled away, leaving only Ivan. No longer captured, Chat Noir fell down onto the mattress with Ivan while Phantom managed to stop himself from falling and hover in place. Seeing that they were all okay and that Marinette's plan had worked, Chat Noir grinned in her direction, awestruck.

"That girl is crazy awesome!" He crowed.

"Just maybe, man, just maybe," Phantom murmured, looking down at Ivan.

Now that he saw who the monster really was, he realized that he knew the boy. He and Ivan hardly ever crossed paths at school, but he remembered the face.

Who is she? And how did she know what's going on?

Phantom put his questions aside when he saw Ivan was waking up.

"What happened? How'd I get out here?" Ivan wondered, startled to be sitting on the Lucky Charm mattress.

Chat Noir got off the mattress, heading over to Marinette. "You were incredible, miss bug lady. You did it!"

Marinette rubbed the back of her head, shyly accepting the praise. "We did it. All three of us." She looked up as Phantom hovered down to the ground. Both she and Phantom noticed that Chat Noir was raising a fist, and they bumped fists together.

"Pound it!" The trio said in unison. Shortly after, Chat Noir's ring beeped. All three heroes noticed that the ring, which previously had five paw pads on it, only had two left- a small one and a big one.

"You should get going. Our identities have to remain secret," Marinette told the destructive hero.

Smiling, Chat Noir gave a bow. "Farewell, my lady. See you around, Phantom." Extending his baton, he ran and made a jump up to the school roof, disappearing from sight.

"Think we'll see him again?" Phantom came up beside Marinette, watching the cat hero go.

"We probably will. Whoever created that akuma, they're still out there," Marinette confirmed. Looking down at the remains of the akuma object, she noticed that it had changed back into a crumpled ball of paper. Picking it up, she unfurled it for some possible clue about the akuma. She read it out loud, and suddenly her heart went out to Ivan. "Oh."

"Kim wrote that. He's always making fun of me," Ivan grumbled as Marinette went over to him.

"And that's a mean thing he did," she confirmed, "but there's no shame in telling someone you love them, Ivan."

Ivan looked at her in confusion. "Uh, how'd you know my name?"

Realizing she had slipped, Marinette tried to come up with an excuse, but she was saved by Kim and Alya's timing.

"You did it! You stopped the monster!" Kim ran up, having made his way down from the roof somehow once he had seen Stoneheart was no more. He blinked when he finally approached the two heroes and the akuma victim. "Wait, Ivan? You were the monster?"

"Amazing! Are you guys going to be protecting Amity Park from now on?" Alya questioned Marinette and Phantom while filming the moment. "How'd you get your powers? I've got a ton of questions to ask you both."

"Um, uh," Marinette stammered, dropping the note and stepping away from Ivan.

"Sorry," Phantom intervened, stepping in front of Marinette, "it's one thing to learn comic book hero origin stories, but it's another to learn real-life hero origin stories. How we got our powers is confidential, right?" He looked back at Marinette, giving her a wink.

"Well, what about names? What can we call you? I heard you guys call the cat guy 'Chat Noir'," Alya pressed.

"You can call me Phantom, and my friend here goes by… say, you never gave us your hero name." Phantom glanced at Marinette, realizing that he knew everybody involved in the fight by name except her.

Marinette looked down at her suit. Call her uncreative, but a lot of heroes went by what their suits made them look like, didn't they? At least, that's what her limited knowledge of superheroes suggested. "Ladybug. I'm Ladybug." Not wanting to answer any other questions, as well as needing to escape before she had to transform back, she whipped out her yo-yo and fled the scene.

"Ladybug, Chat Noir, and Phantom? Wow, what a group!" Alya exclaimed, recording Ladybug's exit.

"Hey, I was the first one at the fight. Why is my name last?" Phantom protested, turning back to her.

"Uh, the other two have animal-based names, and you don't? You're the odd one out."

Danny lifted a finger to argue the point, but found that she was right. "…Point taken. You three take care of yourselves. Even though I don't have a time limit on my super form, I've got other places to be." Namely wherever Sam and Tucker have bunkered down, and tell them how his first time using his powers in a fight went. Taking off, he left Alya, Kim, and Ivan at the field.

* * *

Later that day, Danny sat at home with his friends in his normal clothes, watching Nadja use the footage Alya had submitted to the local news to explain what had gone down. Marinette and Adrien watched it from their respective homes as well, Marinette celebrating that her first outing as a hero had gone successfully and Adrien unfortunately finding out that Plagg required camembert cheese for regaining power.

"Thanks to this amateur footage," Nadja reported on Danny's TV, "Amity Park now knows the identities of its heroes."

"Looks like you're not the only one with strange powers in Amity Park," Sam remarked to her friend as the report continued.

Danny nodded. "Yeah, and honestly, I'm thankful they've got them too. I never would've beaten Ivan without them."

"I still can't believe that Ivan was the monster. What do you think happened there?" Tucker mused.

"I'm not sure," Danny answered, frowning in thought. "Ladybug said that the thing that turned Ivan was called an akuma, and that someone else was in control of those. She and Chat Noir both knew what was going on, at least vaguely. I think whoever sent that akuma to change Ivan into a monster was trying to set a trap. For what, I have no idea."

"Now we know that this isn't going to be an isolated incident," said Sam. "The akuma's master will probably try something again. Maybe we can find out more then."

Tucker quickly shushed his friends. "The mayor's about to talk." Danny and Sam both rolled their eyes. For whatever reason, Tucker was interested in politics, even if said politics included bratty Chloe's father. [15]

"I'm pleased to announce that we will be organizing a big celebration in honor of our new protectors," Andre Bourgeois stated in a press interview, "Ladybug, Chat Noir, and Phantom."

* * *

Adrien sighed fondly in his room. "Her name is Ladybug." That was his one regret about the afternoon, leaving before he had a name for that amazing face and mind. Hearing she had a name on the news lifted that regret from his shoulders. Then his nose wrinkled and he felt like gagging. "Do you really have to eat camembert?"

"The stinkier the cheese, the better," Plagg quipped, swallowing a wedge of the smelly cheese whole.

* * *

Unfortunately, though the group had won the battle, they forgot one crucial detail. The akuma.

Perching on the highest point in Amity Park, the evil butterfly began to multiply.

* * *

Later that night as Marinette slept, exhausted from her incredible first day back to school, she was poked on the cheek gently.

"Marinette!" Tikki hissed as she prodded. "Marinette, wake up!"

The girl in bed groaned, trying to cover up further. "It can't be morning already. I feel like barely got any rest."

"No Marinette, it's not that. There's something on the news you've got to see. It's important."

"…Alright, give me a second." Marinette slowly climbed out of her lofted bed, down to her computer desk where Tikki waited for her. "What is it you need to show me?"

Having figured out how to operate the computer earlier in the evening, Tikki tapped a button to start a video.

"A new wave of panic is sweeping over the town as dozens of people are being mysteriously transformed into rock monsters like seen earlier today with the one fought by our new protectors, Ladybug, Chat Noir, and Phantom." The late night reporter for the news announced. On her computer, Marinette could see the little akumas sneaking up on people roaming the streets late at night and entering their bodies, changing them into Stoneheart lookalikes. "It's simply unbelievable. The police are unsure what is going to happen to them. Are they going to come to life and attack, or are they going to remain frozen?"

"I don't understand. I thought we defeated Ivan's monster form," Marinette told Tikki, turning off the video.

"Didn't you capture the akuma?" Tikki inquired.

"What does that have to do with this?"

Tikki launched into an explanation. "If an akuma isn't captured and cleansed, then it can multiply. Once the original victim, Ivan in this case, starts feeling negative emotions again, the akuma could repossess him, and then anything could happen based on what a victim's powers are. With Stoneheart, he could create a whole army of these stone beings." [16]

"This is all my fault. I knew I wasn't cut out to be a superhero," Marinette lamented, spiraling fast.

"It's okay. It was your first time. When you go back out again, you can capture the akuma and cleanse it then," Tikki tried to reassure her.

"I can't! I'm only going to keep messing things up, for you, for Chat Noir and Phantom, for everybody. It's all I'm good at. I can't do this anymore." She went into her bathroom.

* * *

At Adrien's house, Plagg had alerted him to the problem and that he unfortunately couldn't do anything about it.

"So we can't fix anything without Ladybug?" Adrien clarified.

Plagg ate another wedge of cheese. "Because the Ladybug Miraculous has the power of creation, Ladybug is the only one with a Miraculous that can fix damage done by supervillains."

* * *

"If Chat Noir and Phantom can't capture the akuma, then you'll just have to find another Ladybug," Marinette decided, staring into her mirror and only seeing someone who made too big of a mistake. Her decision final, she reached for the earrings.

"Marinette, no!" Tikki cried out desperately, but the moment her jewelry was removed, she vanished.

Holding the earrings in hand, Marinette found she was once again alone in her room. As much as she liked having that sweet little voice around, she couldn't keep her with the problems she herself created. That would be selfish.

"I'm sorry, Tikki," she murmured. Finding the box that the earrings came in, she put them back in it, and crawled into bed to get rest for tomorrow.

As far as she knew, her days as a hero were over, but her days of being a student continued on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [1]- We know the names of each hero's power, but not the villains' powers. Given I do not believe that akumatization is the butterfly power's actual name, I decided to name it Metamorphosis to reference the butterfly being a symbol of change with the different stages of life they go through.
> 
> [2]- Two things for this one note. First, I prefer the dub's transformation phrases over the original's 'Transform me!' because I like that each kwami gets their own unique phrase. It would be too easy to access their powers if the wrong person got their hands on a Miraculous and only needed to know the kwami's name to invoke them. Second, the creator confirmed that each Miraculous has a villain phrase as well as a hero one. As I take everything that man says with a huge grain of salt, I'm going with Hawk Moth twisting it just enough to work.
> 
> [3]- I know that it is actually the Peacock Miraculous, but since both men and women can use it, I decided to go for something more gender neutral. I think the Peacock Miraculous is the only one of the Chinese Zodiac box that has this issue.
> 
> [4]- This is my headcanon for ghost stuff interacting with magic stuff. While I see them being compatible to a degree, they generally don't mesh extremely well. We'll discover more nuances of their compatibility as time goes on.
> 
> [5]- As American schools work differently than French schools, I decided to skip over Marinette's discussion with her parents about being stuck with Chloe in the same class since different school systems render that pointless.
> 
> [6]- Another thing about American schools is not every high school has homeroom, which is basically downtime to get last-minute homework done or get guidance from a teacher. My high school had it, and I'm using it to justify the 'Miraclass' from Miraculous Ladybug canon. Aside from Danny, Sam, and Tucker in the corner, imagine the seating arrangement is the same.
> 
> [7]- In canon, Ms. Bustier says a few lines before that Nino should move up front 'this year' as if they had attended the same school the previous year with the same teacher and apparently stood by while Chloe and Sabrina bullied Marinette out of her seat. Taking out that line and making Bustier one of the last people to arrive causes Sabrina's 'new year, new school, new seats' line to make sense and allows for her and Chloe to bully Marinette without implying Bustier is incompetent as a teacher out of the gate.
> 
> [8]- We never saw how Fu figured out where Adrien lived to deliver Plagg and the ring, unlike he likely figured out Marinette lived above the bakery. This is how I assume he tracked Adrien down.
> 
> [9]- As American school lunch break works differently than French school lunch break, the Stoneheart akumatization was put at the end of the school day instead of at lunch period. Like note 7, I tweaked Kim and Ivan's confrontation to occur out of a teacher's sight instead of again implying Bustier is an incompetent teacher. If she did her job correctly, she would have sent Kim to the office too for antagonizing Ivan instead of Ivan alone for threatening to punch Kim.
> 
> [10]- As we never learned exactly how Adrien signed up for public school behind his father's back, fans have assumed Chloe pulled strings with her father to allow Adrien to do so on his own. Since Adrien really wants to attend public school and sneaks out in the second part to try again, I decided to show he still had that rebellious spirit in him. Whether he would get a Miraculous soon or not, he was going to that school.
> 
> [11]- In canon, Adrien is shown in his room when he first hears Stoneheart's rampage, runs out the front door to see what was happening, and then ran all the way back up to his room to turn on his TV. I kept him in his room to avoid that extra bit of legwork.
> 
> [12]- Magic earrings are magic. I figured there have been some holders in the past who did not have pierced ears, so I put that bit in just because.
> 
> [13]- Included this bit of info after watching the Oblivio episode. Sure is handy that magic weapons come with instruction manuals.
> 
> [14]- Since neither Ladybug nor Chat Noir give first names with their hero personas, it didn't make sense for him to introduce himself as 'Danny Phantom'. At least giving Phantom a name now avoids the 'Inviso-Bill' incident later.
> 
> [15]- Tucker's campaign for student council and eventual job as mayor in the finale that shall not be named always came across as out of left field personally, so I'm establishing his interest in politics early.
> 
> [16]- In the original, Tikki sounded like she knew exactly what would happen. Since akumas have different powers, I edited her explanation to be more speculation.
> 
> Please leave a review in the box below, and remember that reviews are awesome!


	3. One Kind of Origin Story, Part Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stoneheart comes back for round two, and our heroes work to make sure things end right this time.

One Kind of Origin Story, Part Two

The next morning, Marinette reluctantly got up and ready for school. When she went down to the kitchen for breakfast, she saw that her parents were watching the news while preparing for the day. The news was still running the story about people turning into stone statues for those who missed it the previous night.

“Don’t worry, Marinette,” her father, Tom, reassured her when he saw the sad look in her eyes. “Ladybug, Chat Noir, and Phantom will find a way to fix this.”

“But what if they can’t? What if more and more people get turned to stone?” Marinette looked up to him.

“Well, if it comes down to that, I’ll make sure that never happens to you. Me and your mother both. We’ll protect you just like those superheroes. Super Baker to the rescue!” joked Tom, brandishing a loaf of bread as a pretend weapon.

The joke seemed to work because a small smile appeared on Marinette’s worried face. “Thanks, Super Dad. I’m going to go get my stuff and head to school.” She ran back upstairs to grab her backpack, and she momentarily glanced at the box containing Tikki’s earrings before deciding to take it so she could pass them onto someone more worthy of being a hero.

* * *

In spite of his failure to enter the school yesterday, Adrien didn’t give up on his intention to attend public school. He didn’t sneak behind his father’s back and get Chloe’s help to register all for nothing.

“You’re a really weird kid,” Plagg commented, briefly popping out of Adrien’s shirt as the boy ran down the street towards Casper High. “What kind of kid wouldn’t want to stay home and not go to school?”

Adrien smirked playfully. “You don’t get it, Plagg. All my life I’ve been locked up in my house by my father. I want to go out and make friends.”

Plagg rolled his eyes, going back to his pocket. “I still think you’re trading one lockup for another.”

* * *

Everyone appeared to get over the initial shock from Stoneheart’s appearance because most of the students were back on school grounds that morning. Among them included Danny, Sam, and Tucker.

“Huh. I would’ve expected some of these guys would stay home considering how crazy yesterday was,” Danny mused, looking around the campus.

“I bet some of them tried to stay home, but their parents made them come anyway,” Tucker commented. “Though, I wouldn’t put it past some of the more overprotective parents to have their kids stay home for a day or two.”

“I agree with Tucker. Parents are always telling us to do stuff we don’t want to do because it’s for our education,” Sam added in, shaking her head. When the trio stepped in the front door, she split off from the boys. “I’m going to talk to the principal. The cafeteria needs some more vegetarian options. Meet you at homeroom.” [1]

As she went about her business, Danny and Tucker went to their lockers to wait out the bell.

* * *

Alya met up with Marinette on the sidewalk and immediately shoved her phone into her new friend’s face.

“Look at this, girl! I uploaded the footage I sent to the news to my personal blog, and check it out- two thousand likes in one night!” Alya gleefully exclaimed.

“Wow, that’s a lot.” Marinette blinked at the view count, her face flushing red. She had known lots of people had seen her and the other heroes’ battle with Ivan, but to see an actual number was slightly overwhelming.

“I know. People are going crazy for Amity Park’s new protectors.” Alya pulled her phone away from Marinette’s face, not noticing the red in Marinette’s cheeks as she scrolled down the page. “Some of the people that commented on my video are really excited for the mayor’s plan to celebrate them this weekend. And here’s the best part, with how big of a hit this was on my blog, I’ve decided to create a new blog exclusively about the heroes. I already started some groundwork for it last night, and it should be ready for the web by this weekend.”

“That’s great, Alya. I’m sure that they’ll appreciate a blog dedicated to them,” Marinette said, always one to support creations people liked.

Alya grinned. “Thanks! I’ve always wanted to go into journalism as a career when I’m older, but if this hero stuff continues, I could get an early start now. I could write articles about fights like the one yesterday, post videos, and all sorts of stuff.”

“You sound like me talking about how I want to be a fashion designer. All that energy devoted to it, I like that,” replied Marinette with a fond smile. Remembering what she planned to do this morning, she shifted to another topic. “Hey, Alya? If you could be a hero like Ladybug and them, would you do it? Be a superhero?”

Reaching the door to the school, the girls stopped.

“Are you kidding? Totally! I love superheroes, and wanted to be one since I was little. The powers to use, the enemies to face, and the story to be a part of, who wouldn’t want all that?”

Marinette shrugged. “I don’t know, maybe someone who didn’t think they had what it takes?”

Alya’s answer to her question proved further that she’d make a better hero than Marinette. She had the passion for the job, the guts to go into a dangerous situation, and the knowledge of how to be one. Somehow, she’d find a way to get the earrings to her today. The sooner Alya got the earrings, the sooner she could jump into the role that she desired.

“Wait, what’s going on over there?” Alya pointed past Marinette, and they both saw some of their classmates from homeroom at a bench off to the entrance’s side. It looked like Ivan was sitting on the bench, and their classmates were talking to him about something.

“I don’t know. Let’s go see.” Marinette and Alya walked over to investigate.

“You really don’t remember anything, Ivan?” Alix asked the boy on the bench.

“That’s too bad,” Juleka said with her shy smile, “you were awesome. You looked really cool.”

“I’m just glad that you didn’t crush me, dude,” Kim added with a relieved sigh.

Ivan sighed, having heard endless similar comments and questions since becoming himself again yesterday. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t myself.”

Chloe snorted haughtily. “Well, serves you right. Once a monster, always a monster.”

At that point, Ivan had enough and shoved off the bench, brushing past everyone.

“Ivan?” Marinette gasped as he pushed past her and Alya.

-LB-CN-P-

In his lair, Hawk Moth could feel Ivan’s rising emotions. “Yes, feel the burn of those words. Lose your temper, Ivan. Reclaim your akuma.” He tapped the sphere in the top of his cane, where the akuma that corrupted Ivan had returned to after multiplying across town last night.

-LB-CN-P-

The warning bell rang, and Adrien reached the entrance to the school as soon as it finished ringing.

His car pulled up to the curb, and Nathalie quickly got out.

“Adrien, don’t do this!” Nathalie called after him. “Your father will be furious.”

Adrien whirled around momentarily. “Tell him you were too late. Please!” Without delaying any longer, he finally entered the school he longed to attend in search of his homeroom.

Nathalie sighed heavily, getting back into the car. She met the Gorilla’s questioning stare, and answered the unasked question. “I’ll take care of it.” Grunting in acknowledgment, the Gorilla drove them away. [2]

* * *

“That was a really cruel thing to say, Chloe. If anyone’s the monster here, it’s you!” Alya pointed at the other girl as they stood in their homeroom.

Chloe scoffed. “I’m the monster? Just because your footage of those lame superheroes got on TV last night doesn’t mean you can start pointing fingers and call me names.”

Alya growled, getting increasingly fed up with Chloe’s behavior.

Seeing this, Chloe took the opportunity to mock. “Oh look out, everyone! She’s getting angry. Soon she’ll turn into a giant monster and attack us all.”

In the back corner, Sam had enough and stood from her seat. “Chloe, do us all a favor and shut the he-!”

“Hey Chloe,” Adrien greeted, entering the room and suddenly being swarmed by most of his new classmates.

“Adrikins!” Chloe instantly switched focus, and gave the new boy a hug.

Sam’s jaw dropped in the classroom’s back corner, as did Danny and Tucker’s. “He actually showed up? She was serious?” Sam questioned in utter bafflement.

* * *

Ignoring the bell, Marinette sought out Ivan while Alya chewed out Chloe. She eventually tracked him down to his locker, and went over to him.

“Don’t listen to a thing that Chloe says,” she advised him. “She’s said nasty things to me for the last several years, and I’ve never listened to them once.”

“Nothing she’s ever said to you was true, though.” Ivan pointed out, closing his locker. “I was a monster.”

“Only because you were ashamed of your crush on Mylene, which you shouldn’t be.”

Ivan looked at her, aghast. “You know?”

Realizing she may have accidentally outed herself, Marinette tried to make a quick cover. “Uh, yeah. I see the way you look at her, and I see the way she looks at you too. You both don’t realize it, but you have a crush on each other. You should talk to her, and find out how she feels.”

“I’m not good at talking,” Ivan grunted, averting his eyes.

“Then write your feelings down instead. Like a poem, or a song,” suggested Marinette. “Yeah, how about a song? I remember you being really good in music class.” [3]

Ivan glanced at her, skeptical at her idea. “You really think Mylene would like a song?”

“Sure. What girl wouldn’t like a love song written about her?” Marinette encouraged once she noticed his hope rising. “Go for it, and stay positive.” Then the bell rang again. “Come on. We’re going to be late for homeroom.”

Grabbing him by the hand, she tugged him to their classroom.

-LB-CN-P-

“No! The negative emotions are fading!” Hawk Moth growled in his lair.

-LB-CN-P-

Back in Miss Bustier’s homeroom, Adrien chatted with the students that swarmed him, occasionally signing something for them. In the back corner, Sam and her friends watched the spectacle.

“I can’t believe Adrien Agreste is in our homeroom,” Tucker said in disbelief. “Dude’s a model.”

“I know,” Sam agreed, similarly stunned. “Why is he going to our school now?”

Danny shrugged. “Maybe Chloe tricked him into coming.”

Eventually, Chloe pulled Adrien away from his new classmates and guided him to an empty seat in the front row next to Nino.

“Here, Adrikins. I saved you a seat, right in front of me.” Chloe told him.

“Thanks, Chloe!” Since he missed the first day, Adrien had thought he would get stuck in the back of the room, but a seat front and center? Chloe really knew him well. He happily sat down in the seat, and noticed Nino next to him. “Hi, I’m Adrien.”

Nino frowned at him. “So, you’re friends with Chloe then?” He made a motion to Adrien’s other side, and Adrien turned to see Chloe and Sabrina sticking a piece of gum on the seat Marinette had used the day before.

“Chloe! What are you doing?”

Chloe faced him, more than happy to answer. “The brat that sat here yesterday needs to be put in her place. I’m just making sure things are the way they’re supposed to be.”

Adrien frowned at his childhood friend’s tone. “Is that really necessary?”

“Just watch, Adrikins. You’ve got a lot to learn about public school.”

* * *

After Adrien had arrived, Alya went out to find Marinette and Ivan, finding them halfway back to class. “And then she said I’d become a monster next and attack everyone,” Alya ranted as the three students returned. She grit her teeth. “The nerve of her.”

“Don’t let Chloe drag you down to her level,” Marinette advised, walking beside her with Ivan on Alya’s other side. “Show her you’re above that.”

“I’ll try, but she’s really making it hard and I’ve only known her for a day.” While Alya stewed, Marinette discreetly slipped the box with the Ladybug earrings into Alya’s bag.

They arrived at the classroom at this point, the final bell for class to start ringing above them. They halted when they saw Adrien picking at the gum Chloe had stuck on Marinette’s seat.

“Hey, what are you doing?” Marinette demanded, raising her voice.

Adrien practically jumped, stammering to make a reply only for Chloe and Sabrina to laugh in their seats.

Marinette rolled her eyes, and moved over to her seat. “Very funny.”

“No, no, I was just trying to take it off,” Adrien attempted to explain, Chloe and Sabrina laughing harder behind him.

“Oh really,” Marinette replied, getting the gum off and tossing it into the waste bin near Miss Bustier’s desk. “Look, you’re friends with Chloe, right? Just do the same thing I asked her to do, leave me alone.” She took her seat, and started to get out her things.

“Why do people keep asking if I’m friends with Chloe?” Adrien asked nobody, and sat dejectedly in his new seat. There goes a chance at making a friend.

Seeing the hurt expression on Adrien’s face, Nino nudged him with his elbow. “Why don’t you just tell her that Chloe did it?”

Adrien sighed. “It’s not that simple. Chloe, she’s one of my only friends. Other than Sam. She’s not perfect, but I can’t throw her under the bus like that.”

“You mean the Sam that’s sitting back there?” Nino pointed over his shoulder, prompting Adrien to glance in the back corner, where Sam was talking in hushed tones with Danny and Tucker.

“Sam’s in this class too? Huh, small world.”

“Well, your world is about to get a little bigger.” Nino extended his hand to Adrien. “My name is Nino, dude, and it’s time for you to make some new friends.” [4]

Adrien blinked at the sudden offer, and then smiled, accepting the handshake. “I’m Adrien.”

On Adrien’s other side, Marinette struggled to figure out where she knew the new guy from. “I know him, Alya, but I can’t figure out where.” She gasped in realization. “Of course!” Digging out her phone, she went online and pulled up a picture. “He’s Adrien Agreste, the son of my favorite designer, Gabriel Agreste.”

Alya looked over at the picture. “A model, daddy’s boy, and Chloe’s friend? That’s just asking for trouble.”

At that point, Miss Bustier entered the room and stood in front of the students, who took their seats upon her arrival. “Sorry I’m late, class. The staff was having an emergency meeting about yesterday’s… event. First I’ll take roll call, and then we’ll talk about the situation regarding these sorts of events if they are to happen again.”

The rest of the period went without a hitch. When roll was called, Nino had to tell Adrien to reply with ‘present’ when his name was said, causing the homeschooled model to jump out of his chair and do exactly that before the moment passed. Once Miss Bustier gave a rundown about what the staff is considering for the akumas if more come, the class was free to do as they pleased within the classroom. Despite Chloe’s cries for attention, Adrien got invested in a conversation with Nino about their hobbies, and Nino even shared some of his music with his new friend. Ivan sat quietly at his desk, scribbling down a love song as Marinette had suggested, while everyone else began hushed discussions about the heroes that had shown up in town.

* * *

The bell eventually rang, and students moved onto their next period. On her way to her next class, Mylene took a detour to the girls’ restroom, but wasn’t as quick about it as she would’ve liked.

“Oh no! I’m so late!” Mylene panicked, rushing out of the stall when the bell rang again. She was just leaving when she nearly bumped into Ivan. “Ah! Ivan, you almost scared me!”

“I wrote a song for you,” Ivan said, holding up a sheet of paper.

“That’s nice, Ivan, but can it wait? We’re going to be la-.” Mylene tried to leave, but then Ivan started some heavy metal music and sang to it.

“Mylene, be serene,” Ivan began to sing rather horribly, “I want to show you what I mean!”

If Ivan intended on serenading Mylene, it wasn’t working. The girl had clapped her hands over her ears to block out the tone-deaf vocalizing, and that wasn’t helping. Turning away from Ivan, she ran off to her next class. Ivan stopped abruptly, watching his crush run from him, almost like she was afraid of him.

Like he was a monster.

He slumped over. Forget class, he wasn’t going after that. Shoving the boys’ restroom open, he locked himself in a stall to lament. The paper with his lyrics crumpled in his palm.

-LB-CN-P-

“Yes. This is what I was waiting for,” Hawk Moth said with a vicious grin. Releasing the akuma from his cane, he continued, “Fly away, my little akuma, and evilize him!”

It was almost like yesterday was repeating. Ivan was in a bad mood in a bathroom stall, a sheet of paper crushed in his hand, and an akuma slipping in through the window. The akuma entered the paper, re-establishing the connection between Ivan and Hawk Moth.

“This is your second chance, Stoneheart,” Hawk Moth told him. “This time, you’ll have extra help. No one will stop you from capturing the love of your life. Of course, in return, I ask that you retrieve Ladybug and Chat Noir’s Miraculous.”

“Yes, Hawk Moth.” Ivan replied, and the dark purple energy washed over him.

-LB-CN-P-

After being late to science class with Miss Mendeliev, a rather stern teacher nobody in school liked, Mylene tried to keep her head down to avoid attracting attention. After the incident in the hall with Ivan, she just wanted to hide.

Marinette, who shared the same class with her and a few other homeroom classmates, seemed to notice Ivan was conspicuously absent when he had clearly been in class during homeroom.

“Uh, Mylene, do you know what happened to Ivan?” Marinette asked her from where she was sitting next to Alya.

_Darn, so much for not attracting attention._

Mylene struggled to answer the question in a way that didn’t mention the incident. “Uh, well, you see… I was coming out of the bathroom, and might have seen-!”

A familiar rock monster crashed through the wall. Several students cried out, diving for cover.

“Mylene!” The monster roared. He found his target, and snatched her up.

“Let me go, Ivan!” Mylene protested.

“I’m not Ivan anymore. I’m Stoneheart!” Stoneheart corrected, turning to exit through the hole he had just made.

“Why are you doing this?” Mylene pleaded, attempting to keep him from leaving.

“So you and I can be together forever!” Stoneheart was about to jump out the hole when he heard a shrill cry.

“Daddy, the monster is back!” The akuma whirled around to see Chloe huddled beneath her desk, her phone to her ear. She looked up as Stoneheart turned over her desk, and screamed when the rock monster snatched her up.

“Put us down, Ivan!” Mylene demanded again as Stoneheart finally jumped out of the building.

Ignoring his captive, Stoneheart started going down the streets of Amity Park with his two captives in hand.

Back in the science class, Alya was already picking up her phone. “Let’s follow it,” she told Marinette, an excited gleam in her eyes.

“Uh no… I’d rather stay here,” Marinette declined reluctantly, crouching behind a desk.

“But you’re going to miss out on the action.”

“I think you and the heroes will be fine without me.” Marinette held out Alya’s bag, which contained the earrings.

Alya shrugged in reply. “Suit yourself.” She dashed out of the classroom to catch up with Stoneheart before he got too far.

“Alya, wait! You forgot your bag!” Marinette gave chase.

Miss Mendeliev raised her hands in frustration as students began fleeing left and right, including Adrien, who went to go find a place to transform. “Honestly! Are we going to be interrupted every day now with this happening?”

In another classroom, Danny, Sam, and Tucker had seen Stoneheart carry Mylene and Chloe away through a window. They knew what Danny was thinking.

“I think now’s a good time for a bathroom break,” Danny said.

“Good idea. We’ll cover for you,” Tucker agreed.

While Mr. Lancer tried to calm down the students and continue the lesson, Danny slipped out unnoticed. He found the nearest boys’ bathroom, making sure no one else was around before a glowing ring formed around him, splitting into two going up and down his body, transforming him into Phantom. Going intangible, he flew through the wall and out into the open sky.

* * *

“Ivan, where are we going?” Mylene tried to ask Stoneheart as the rock monster rampaged through Amity Park.

“Somewhere high,” Stoneheart bluntly answered. “And it’s Stoneheart!”

“Pretty sure astronauts are the highest we can go,” Chat Noir quipped as he arrived on the scene. “But, if you want to reach for the stars, be my guest.”

Chloe rolled her eyes. “Finally. Get me away from this hideous monster. Do it!”

“I’d try, but I can’t attack without making him get bigger,” Chat Noir apologized. “Don’t worry, though. Ladybug, Phantom, and I will find a way to get you both free.”

At that point, Phantom arrived. “Did I miss anything?”

“Nope. But it looks like this time we’ve got a hostage situation,” answered Chat Noir.

“Two against one isn’t fair,” Stoneheart grunted. “Time to fix that.” His eyes began to glow.

“What’s he doing?” Phantom asked, tensing for anything.

All around Amity Park, those who were turned into Stoneheart lookalikes the night before began to move, heading towards where Stoneheart was. Soon enough, the two heroes were starting to become surrounded.

“It looks like he was doing that- summoning his army,” Chat Noir said.

“Okay then, strategic retreat.” Phantom picked up his teammate, and took them both up to a nearby roof, getting the Stoneheart minions to pursue and attempt to climb the building to reach them.

Chat Noir looked around from his new vantage point. “Where’s Ladybug?”

With the heroes cornered, Stoneheart continued with his mission.

“What are you doing?” Mylene spoke up, struggling in the mosnter’s grip.

“Delivering a message,” Stoneheart answered, heading towards the taller buildings in Amity Park, meaning the ones downtown.

“To who? My father?” Chloe inquired snottily. “Because my father’s the mayor, and when he finds out you kidnapped me, he’s going to bring in the best reinforcements money can buy.”

Chat Noir looked to Phantom for a plan. “What do we do?”

Realizing he had an advantage over the minions, Phantom decided, “Stay here and fend off the sidekicks. I’ll go after the big guy.” Without waiting for a reply he flew after the rock monster and his captives.

“Not sure if I’ll be enough against these guys, but I’ll give it a try,” Chat Noir admitted, taking his baton in hand and jumping into the fray.

* * *

Back at the school, classes were thrown into a frenzy by Stoneheart’s reappearance. Even though he had only attacked one classroom, the ruckus was enough to distress everyone. Using the mayhem as their chance to slip out, Sam and Tucker moved to leave the school to try and catch up with Danny. On their way to the exit, Jazz came running up to them.

“Guys, where’s Danny?” Their friend’s older sister inquired.

“Probably hiding in a bathroom somewhere,” Tucker answered as Sam nodded along with the response, “that’s what he did yesterday.”

* * *

“Could really use that Lucky Charm of Ladybug’s right about now!” Chat Noir dodged another swing from one of the stone minions. With Phantom having flown off, Chat Noir decided to try and see if he could find Ladybug, but Stoneheart’s minions were making it difficult to go anywhere. He made the mistake of hitting one with his baton, and found they were just like the original. Hitting one made it bigger.

Alya arrived on the scene, ready to film, but first took a moment to search for Ladybug. “Where is she?”

One of the minions noticed her, and proceeded to chuck a parked car in her direction when she wasn’t looking. Luckily for her, Chat Noir noticed and threw his baton to obstruct the tossed car. Instead of crushing her, the car merely trapped Alya against a wall without a way to get out.

Marinette had just rounded the corner with Alya’s bag in hand when she saw what happened to her friend. “Alya!” she gasped.

“Help!” Alya screamed.

Ducking back behind the corner before she was seen, Marinette took a brief look at Alya’s bag.

_So much for my idea of passing the Ladybug Miraculous onto her._

Nobody else Marinette knew had the drive to be a hero like Alya did, and even if she knew someone else, she didn’t know where to find them on such short notice.

“Ladybug! Phantom!” Chat Noir’s voice called out.

Marinette peeked around the corner, and saw that one of the stone minions had captured the cat hero without his baton.

_They both need me, and I don’t even know where Phantom is and what he’s doing. I’m the only one who can help._

Mustering up the courage, she pulled the box out of Alya’s bag, and put the earrings back on. When both were in place, Tikki returned.

The little kwami smiled when she saw that it was Marinette who wore the earrings. “I knew you’d come around.”

“I’m still not sure about this, but right now, I’m the only one who can help. Tikki, spots on!” Marinette invoked the transformation, this time more accepting of the feeling washing over her.

She hadn’t paid attention the first time around, but this time, she could feel the warm and creative feeling that came with creation. It felt like her mind was coming up with millions upon millions of ideas that only she could make a reality. The sensation was similar to what she felt when she was struck with inspiration for her fashion designs. Before, she wasn’t sure what to think, but now, it felt right.

She felt right. She felt like she could take on anything thrown at her.

Rounding the corner, she immediately went to work. Tossing her yo-yo, she pulled the car away from Alya.

Alya grinned when she saw her rescuer. “Ladybug, I knew you’d come!”

Retrieving Chat Noir’s baton, she threw it to him. “Chat Noir!”

Chat Noir caught his weapon despite being captured, and extended the baton to escape the minion’s grasp. [5]

“It’s not safe here. You need to go,” Ladybug informed Alya, who looked put out at being told to leave. When Chat Noir rejoined them, she put on an apologetic smile. “Sorry I’m late.”

“Hey, until the bell rings, I’m pretty sure you’re right on time,” Chat Noir replied with a warm smile and a wink.

“Ladybug, the original Stoneheart!” Alya prompted, ignoring Ladybug’s order.

Ladybug nodded. “Right. We need to find him and break the object with the akuma. If we take care of him, we take care of all of them. Where is he?”

“I got wrapped up fighting the minions,” Chat Noir said, “but Phantom said he was going after him.”

Bringing up her yo-yo, Ladybug tapped into the computer function. Alya couldn’t help but peer over her shoulder.

“Wow. You can access the Internet through your yo-yo?” The eager blogger inquired. [6]

“I’m tapping into the news to see if Stoneheart is on it. If they’ve found the original, we can find Phantom and- oh, here we go.” Ladybug clicked something.

The video showed Stoneheart climbing up a building downtown, one bearing the company name of Vlad Co. The police and the media were already on the scene, according to the newsfeed. The police were barricading the area surrounding the building, and the media circled around in a helicopter for the best angle. [7]

* * *

Mylene screamed as the monster ascended higher and higher.

Phantom flew up beside him, yelling, “Hey! Couldn’t you pick somewhere else to climb?”

Grunting dismissively, Stoneheart swung his arm out, which Phantom had to dodge.

Mylene reached her arms out to Phantom in vain. “Save me!”

“No! Save me first! My life is worth way more than hers!” Chloe called out.

The situation was so bad that even Mayor Bourgeois was involved.

“I demand my daughter’s safe return!” The mayor shouted through a megaphone, completely ignoring that his daughter was only one of two prisoners.

Chloe heard her father’s command, and yelled out pleadingly, “Daddy!”

The shrill pitch of Chloe’s scream irritated Stoneheart.

“You know what? Fine! You can have her!” Stoneheart conceded crossly, and managed to chuck the hotel heiress away while keeping Mylene and the akuma item in his grasp.

“No!” Phantom dove after Chloe. He quickly caught up to her, and gathered her in his arms. When he was sure he had her, he carried her over to her father and the police, setting her on her feet.

“Finally,” Chloe grouched, wiping at her clothes with her hands and sneering at Phantom. “I should’ve been rescued a while ago. And don’t get me started on your ridiculous costume, it’s utterly ridiculous.”

Phantom only had a moment to glare at her rude remarks before Mayor Bourgeois intervened.

“Sweetums!” He hurried over to his daughter.

“Daddy!” Chloe practically jumped into his arms.

“The mayor’s daughter is safe! Prepare to fire at the monster!” Lieutenant Raincomprix ordered behind them.

“No, stop!” Ladybug and Chat Noir landed next to Phantom, while Alya reached the crowd of bystanders. The red and black heroine stared at the officer sharply. “Stoneheart still has Mylene, and if you attack him, you’ll only make things worse.”

“She’s right. Every time Stoneheart gets hit, he grows bigger. We don’t want that to happen,” Chat Noir added.

“Why should we let you take care of this? You already messed it up once,” Officer Raincomprix rebutted.

Ladybug’s confidence wavered, and she bowed her head to her teammates. “The officer is right. If I had captured Stoneheart’s akuma in the first place, then none of this would have happened.”

“He’s wrong. Sure, you messed up on your first try, but who wouldn’t?” Chat Noir tried to reassure her. “You still have a chance to make things right. Without you, without us, Ivan and Mylene don’t stand a chance. We can do this.” He gave a confident smile to the other two heroes.

Ladybug and Phantom smiled back, the former’s especially bright once she got her conviction back. The moment ended when they heard a loud, almost painful cry.

Everyone looked up at Stoneheart, and saw that he had risen to the rooftop of the Vlad Co building. Standing tall on it, Stoneheart somehow vomited dozens of akuma butterflies from his mouth. The butterflies gathered, making a shape that vaguely looked like a face.

“People of Amity Park, I am Hawk Moth,” the butterfly face stated loudly.

“Hawk Moth…” All three heroes murmured under their breaths.

“Ladybug, Chat Noir, give me the ladybug earrings and the cat ring now. You’ve done enough damage to this town,” the face continued.

Ladybug’s narrowed eyes gave way to a smirk, and the spotted heroine stepped forward. “Nice try, Hawk Moth, but we know who the real bad guy is. Let’s not reverse the roles. Without you, none of these innocent victims would be transformed into villains. No matter how long it takes, we will find you, and then you’ll hand over your Miraculous.” Throwing her yo-yo, she pulled herself up to the building and started swinging the weapon around, catching all of the akumas in it. “Time to de-evilize!” Once she caught them all, she grinned down at the crowd watching her. “Let me make this promise to you. No matter who wants to harm you, Ladybug, Chat Noir, and Phantom will do everything in our power to keep you safe.” With a swiping motion over her yo-yo, she opened it again and released all of the akuma butterflies, this time they were all glistening white like before Hawk Moth imbued them with his dark energy.

The crowd cheered, including those across the city who were watching the newsfeed that the media was broadcasting. Alya arrived as everyone applauded Ladybug, having snuck around the stone minions, and readied her phone to record.

“Wow,” Chat Noir breathed, getting Phantom’s attention. “Whoever is underneath that mask, I love that girl.” Phantom didn’t quite know what to say to that, so he settled for rolling his eyes playfully at his teammate.

“Agh, heroes! Stoneheart, they’ll try and take away your loved one. Get the Miraculous before they take her,” Hawk Moth instructed from his lair.

“Yes, Hawk Moth,” Stoneheart obeyed, reaching out to grab Ladybug. She yelped, dodging to the right and away from the edge of the roof.

“We’d better go help her out,” Phantom told Chat Noir before flying up to help.

“Let’s do it,” Chat Noir agreed, using his baton to spring himself up.

“Help!” Mylene called out helplessly from Stoneheart’s fist.

“Nobody is taking Mylene from me, nobody!” Stoneheart roared. “Stone minions, to my side.”

Alya was the first to realize what Stoneheart was talking about, lowering her phone, and looked down the road she had come from. “Uh, everyone? We might want to scatter.”

Everyone turned and saw what she was talking about. The stone minions were coming down the street in droves. Screaming for their lives, everyone started splitting off, except the police, who tried to stay where they were.

“Looks like we’re about to have company!” Chat Noir called to his teammates when he saw the minions. “What do we do?”

Phantom floated beside his teammates as they dodged the arm swats from Stoneheart. “We already know where the akuma is. He already climbed up with one hand, so it must be in the same hand that has Mylene.”

“So, how do we get it?” Chat Noir prompted. “And we need an answer fast. I don’t think this building can stand so many rock monsters climbing it.” To prove his point, the stone minions were climbing over themselves to get up to the roof, and the Vlad Co building was starting to show cracks in the foundation.

Ladybug thought for a moment, and realized. “By bringing Stoneheart and Mylene closer together. They both like each other, but they don’t know it yet.”

“Any idea where she’s going with this?” Phantom asked Chat Noir.

“Nope, but I trust her,” Chat Noir answered with a grin. “I’ll follow your lead, milady.”

“My lady?” Phantom repeated, and then shook his head.

“Help! I’m scared of heights!” Mylene pleaded after teetering over the edge once.

“Everything will be alright!” Ladybug comforted her, jumping up to the top of an antenna. “Lucky Charm!” She threw her yo-yo in the air, and it came down with a new red and black object. “A parachute?”

The Vlad Co building began to crack even further.

Phantom saw the damage, and yelled, “Ladybug, if you’ve got a plan, make it quick!” He flew out of range of a minion that tried to grab him.

Ladybug stared at Chat Noir distracting the original Stoneheart, Phantom flying around, and formed a plan. “Chat Noir, the akuma! Phantom, get Mylene!” Buckling the parachute on herself, she threw her yo-yo around Stoneheart’s hand that held Mylene. Pulling, she managed to get the hand to force Mylene to Stoneheart’s lips. Both the girl and the rock monster’s eyes widened with shock. Instinctively, Stoneheart let go of Mylene, and accidentally, the akumatized object.

Phantom swooped in, and caught Mylene in his arms while Chat Noir jumped down to bat the object back up to Ladybug with his baton.

“Cataclysm!” Chat Noir slapped his hand on the side of the building, making a stray beam of framework crack out the side and give him a place to latch onto before he fell all the way down to the ground.

The building started to collapse right as Ladybug secured the object with her yo-yo, breaking it and releasing the akuma. Stoneheart reverted into Ivan, and Ladybug jumped off the antenna to dive after him. Once she secured an arm around Ivan, she threw her yo-yo at the akuma, capturing it at the same time. Immediately after it was caught, Ladybug activated her parachute, allowing her and Ivan to descend safely. Phantom and Mylene joined her and Ivan on the street as she purified the akuma.

“Bye-bye, little butterfly,” Ladybug bid farewell to the cleansed insect. Then, she picked up her discarded parachute, and called, “Miraculous Ladybug!”

The Lucky Charm morphed from the parachute into a magic swarm of ladybugs that spread out across the city. Everything that was damaged during Stoneheart’s last two fights were fixed. From the bathroom broken at school the day before, to Vlad Co, it was all returned to as if Stoneheart didn’t even happen. Even the stone minions were returned to their human selves, though they were confused when they noticed that they were in a different location from when they last remembered.

The three heroes, along with Mylene and Ivan, all stared in wonder as the magical ladybug swarms flew all around them fixing stuff.

“This is so beautiful,” Mylene said softly.

“It’s more than beautiful,” Ladybug corrected her gently, “it’s miraculous.”

“This isn’t over, Ladybug,” Hawk Moth vowed in his lair as he watched the restoration went on. “You, Chat Noir, and Phantom may have won the battle, but I will win the war. I will get your Miraculous, and I will get the absolute power. Then, I will get my wish!”

* * *

People dispersed from the Vlad Co building. The police cleared up their barricade and returned to their business, and the only people to remain in the area afterwards were the three heroes, Ivan and Mylene, and Alya, who had taken the chance to talk with the news team about possibly getting her footage on TV again before they left to return to their studio. Chloe had left earlier with her father after the police cleaned up.

Ivan and Mylene weren’t sure what to do after going through what they did, but Ladybug had an idea.

“I think you two need to talk about a few things,” she told them, and Ivan blushed immediately, picking up what she meant. As he stammered to get the words out, Ladybug held up the cleansed sheet of lyrics. “Maybe it would help if you read the lyrics to Ivan’s song,” she advised Mylene, handing the paper to her.

After a moment of reading, Mylene smiled brightly. “Wow! It’s a shame that you can’t hear them when you scream- I mean, sing. They’re really beautiful.”

Ivan sighed, embarrassed. “I’m sorry I scared you. I’m not really good at singing.”

Mylene giggled. “No, but you are good at writing. Thank you.” She surprised Ivan with a hug, making the boy blush further.

“So made for each other,” Ladybug asserted after watching them for a moment. The pair walked over to Alya, all three agreeing to head back to school together.

“Kind of like us,” Chat Noir flirted, leaning in towards Ladybug.

Ladybug’s earrings beeped, making them both and Phantom flinch. Recovering, Ladybug said, “Looks like it’s time to split. See you, Chat Noir. Bye, Phantom! This lady’s got to bug out.” Running off, Ladybug swung her yo-yo and disappeared over the rooftops.

“Can’t wait, milady,” Chat Noir said even though she was no longer in hearing range, and gave a polite bow.

Phantom snorted playfully. “You’re totally crushing on her, aren’t you?”

“How can you not be?” The cat hero got a dreamy look on his face. “She’s smart, brave, and kind. The best kind of girl there could be.”

“You’ve really got it bad,” Phantom said with a teasing smirk. He jumped into the air. “Well, gotta go. See you next time!” With that, Phantom flew off in the direction of Casper High.

“This is my life now,” Chat Noir said to himself, watching his new teammate go. “School. Superheroes. I love it all.” Realizing he should get back as well, he used his baton to reach a nearby roof.

* * *

Once word had spread that the monster had disappeared, classes started up again. Several students bailed from school after Stoneheart had shown up with no intentions of returning for the rest of the day, so there were plenty of absences. After lunch, the students that were still there attended their afternoon classes. Jazz had tracked down Danny to check on her little brother, and he lied that he had been hiding in one of the boys’ restrooms the whole time. Marinette managed to convince Alya that she had stayed behind at school, and handed her new friend her bag back when she returned. Adrien thoroughly enjoyed his afternoon classes, and the enthusiastic high he was riding from the morning’s events allowed him to politely deal with all the attention from his classmates that were familiar with his work. Ivan and Mylene’s return to the school was not without scrutiny. Those who knew Ivan had been Stoneheart threw him looks, but he kept his head down, hoping everything would blow over. Though, Ivan and Mylene seemed to be working out, there was one other person involved that needed to be addressed.

“Hey, Kim?” Marinette walked up to Kim at his locker near the end of the day.

Kim put together his backpack for the night, and looked up at his classmate’s arrival. “Oh hey, Marinette? What’s up?”

Marinette leaned against the locker next to Kim’s. “I heard through the grapevine that you gave Ivan a mean note about his crush on Mylene, and that was what made him turn into Stoneheart yesterday. Is that true?”

Frowning guiltily, Kim stared at the floor. “Yeah, what about it?”

“Don’t you think that you should apologize? If I were Ivan, and I got a note like that, I’d want whoever wrote it to apologize to me.”

“I don’t know if I can.”

“It’ll be okay. He and Mylene might’ve worked something out, from what I saw earlier when they came back.” Marinette frowned sternly. “But, what you said could’ve really hurt Ivan, and could’ve possibly ruined his chances with her. You should tell him.”

Kim thought for a minute, and then silently nodded in agreement.

It took a few minutes to find Ivan after that, and thankfully he hadn’t left the school campus yet.

“Ivan,” Kim spoke up, seeing Ivan head out the front door.

Ivan grunted, turning to see Kim coming up to him, Marinette in Kim’s shadow. “What do you want?”

Kim rubbed the back of his neck. “I just wanted to say that I’m sorry about yesterday. I didn’t know that your feelings about Mylene were serious, and I didn’t mean any harm. I was just teasing, you know? I guess I went too far, though, and that was wrong of me. Can you forgive me?”

Ivan’s cold exterior softened. He could tell by Kim’s tone that he was completely genuine, that he wasn’t faking the sympathy. Marinette was even behind Kim, encouraging him to accept the apology.

“I guess,” Ivan said at last before his eyes hardened slightly. “You really hurt me, and that’s not cool.”

“I know, and that’s my bad.” Kim agreed. “From now on, I’ll try not to cross a line, but if I do, tell me.”

Ivan thought for a moment, and then replied, “I will.”

Kim smiled, relieved that he had been forgiven. “Thanks, dude. It means a lot. See you in class tomorrow, okay?” Walking past Ivan, he descended the front stairs and started to jog home. Remembering something, he turned back. “Thanks for encouraging me to apologize, Marinette. It felt really good.” Without waiting for another word, he was gone for real this time.

“You didn’t have to get him to do that,” Ivan said to Marinette, “apologize, I mean.”

“No, but it seemed like the right thing to do.” Marinette gave him a warm smile, and Ivan left the campus in a good mood. Mylene came out of another door, and hurried over to him. Though she couldn’t hear anything, she could tell by the pair’s movements that they were arranging a meetup at a later date, when both of their families wouldn’t be worried out of their minds like they inevitably would be today. Seemingly settling on something, they walked off side by side. [8]

“What a crazy day today was,” said Alya, coming up beside Marinette. “I think today was even wilder than yesterday.”

Marinette giggled. “Yeah, I bet. Sorry that you had to move to Amity Park right before things got so crazy.”

“Don’t be. I’m glad to be here, especially after seeing the superheroes and meeting you,” Alya replied. “Anyway, you mentioned that your family runs a bakery. Mind showing me? I need to see for myself that the goodies you have over there are as tasty as you say.”

“Oh sure!” Marinette beamed, taking Alya by the hand. “Come on. Home’s this way.”

Once the two girls were gone, Adrien stepped out the door, breathing in a deep breath and exhaling contently.

“This has been one of the best days of my life. Hopefully, I can come back tomorrow.” Sending a glance back at the school, he started down the steps, and then saw the silver car waiting at the curb. With Nathalie standing beside it. “I am in so much trouble,” he sighed.

* * *

The next day, Marinette and Alya approached the school.

“After they saw my footage on the news again, they gave me a big lecture about doing something so reckless twice and about doing it after they had already scolded me the first time,” Alya was telling Marinette. “Long story short, I’m grounded in my room after school for the rest of the week. But on the upside, being stuck in my room gives me time to get that new blog up and running before someone else makes one. I’ve already got a name for it too. Since blog is two letters away from bug, and one of the heroes is called Ladybug, I’ve decided to call it ‘the Ladyblog’! What do you think?” Alya asked as they entered.

“Ladyblog, huh? I like that. Clever word play,” Marinette complimented. “But what about Chat Noir and Phantom?”

Alya waved a hand. “There’ll be stuff about them on there too. It’s just Ladybug is my favorite of the team, and she inspired the name, so why not?”

Marinette smiled warmly. “Well, if that’s what you want to do, go for it. It is your blog.”

“I guess Phantom is on my parents’ radar now,” Danny told Tucker and Sam as they reached the campus. “Ever since they learned about him yesterday, they’ve been debating back and forth if he’s a person with powers like ghosts have, or if he’s actually a ghost. Hopefully after a while, they’ll see he really just wants to be a helpful ghost hero instead of a spook with bad intentions, but I wouldn’t hold my breath at this point.”

“And if they don’t, we’ll have your back,” Tucker promised.

“Thanks, Tuck.”

“What I can’t believe is that Stoneheart guy wrecked the school twice, and nearly brought down an entire building. Good thing that Ladybug had the power to fix everything back to the way it was,” said Tucker.

Sam pointed out, “Yeah, but that doesn’t mean she, Phantom, and Chat Noir can get reckless, though. They should still be mindful of property damage. If it’s the bad guy’s fault, I guess that can’t be helped, but the thought still stands.”

“Speaking of stands,” Danny changed the subject, “how’d your meeting with the principal yesterday go? You never told us.”

Sam shrugged. “Not much to tell. I pointed out what year it was, how society is more aware of these things, and that we should make updates to the lunch menu to reflect that awareness. Before that attack, I was told to expect a response within a couple weeks, but now, I’ll probably have to wait a month or something for the school board to get back to me.”

“As long as you don’t make anything drastic happen to my meat, I’m fine with whatever changes you make,” Tucker responded.

The group went inside just as Adrien’s car pulled up to the curb.

He sat in the back seat with Nathalie, and looked forlornly at Casper High. His father was on the video screen attached to the seat in front of him.

“You disobeyed me, Adrien. I want you to look at that school,” Gabriel told his son. “You’re never going back there-.”

“Father!” Adrien desperately tried to protest but was cut off.

“Without your bodyguard. He will drop you off and pick you up every day.” Gabriel continued, making Adrien gasp. The fashion designer nodded to Nathalie. “Nathalie has offered to organize your new schedule. You will be continuing your music, Chinese, fencing classes, and your photo shoots.”

Adrien looked at his father’s assistant, who made it a point not to look at him.

_Aw, Nathalie really does care._

“Thank you, Nathalie.” Adrien smiled gratefully at the screen. “Thank you, Father.” His bag in hand, he rushed into the school with the last of the students before the warning bell rang.

* * *

Marinette and Alya entered their homeroom, and after the confidence booster of a battle she had the previous day, she got a brilliant idea in mind. Halfway to their seats they had taken originally, Marinette took a sharp turn and went to the spot Chloe had stolen from her. Alya grinned, getting the message and taking Sabrina’s spot.

“Uh, what are you doing?” Chloe snapped upon entry with Sabrina. “That’s my seat, Dupain-Cheng. Move!”

Marinette smugly rested her hands underneath her chin. “The only thing evil needs to triumph is for good people to do nothing.”

Alya stared at her, stunned at first then proud. Marinette had used Majestia’s motto.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Chloe retorted with disgust.

Marinette stood from the seat she claimed, looking Chloe in the eye directly. “It means I’m done putting up with your crap, Chloe, and so is everyone else. So take your attitude, and get lost!” She pointed at the open seats she and Alya had left.

Most of the class laughed at Chloe being told off. Danny’s group had just arrived in time to see Marinette stand up for herself, and Sam in particular gave an approving nod of her head.

“About time someone told you off,” Sam said, getting a scathing glare from Chloe that didn’t really bother her.

Turning her nose up at the rest of the class, Chloe stomped over to the open seats. If she couldn’t sit behind Adrien, the next best thing was to sit next to him. Unfortunately, that meant Marinette was sitting behind him instead of her.

“Good job,” Alya lightly bumped Marinette’s shoulder in delight. As they went back to their corner, Danny, Sam, and Tucker all gave her approving signs.

Adrien was the last of the class to arrive, and the bell rang again, signaling class was going to start. He gave a friendly wave to Marinette, only for her to snub it. Slightly dejected, Adrien sat down beside Nino.

“Dude, you want to make friends, right? Just tell Marinette about the gum.” Nino advised, pointing back at Marinette discreetly.

“But, what do I say?” Adrien asked, less confident in his day than he had been moments ago.

“Just be yourself.”

Be himself and explain the situation? Yeah, Adrien could do that.

* * *

To the teachers’ relief, they managed to get through the third day of school without any monster attacks interrupting classes. Everyone got to experience a normal day of school. They didn’t know when the next attack would come, so they were grateful for the opportunity. As a result of the day going so well, nobody really minded when it started to rain at dismissal.

“Are you going to be okay getting home?” Alya inquired when she and Marinette neared the exit. “Nora texted me a few minutes ago saying that she was going to be picking me and the twins up.”

Marinette assured her. “I’ll be fine. Home is just a block away.”

“If you’re sure,” replied Alya as she stared out at the curb. “Oh, I think I see her. See you tomorrow!”

“Bye!” Marinette watched her new friend run out to a car, and inwardly kicked herself. Why hadn’t she remembered the forecast called for rain? She should’ve brought an umbrella.

Adrien came up beside her, taking out an umbrella of his own. “Hey,” he greeted her, but she looked away. Sighing, Adrien opened the umbrella as he stepped outside. “I just wanted to let you know that I was only trying to get the gum off your seat. I’ve never been to school before, never had many friends. It’s all new to me.” Seeing she was facing him again and actually listening, he turned to face her fully, holding out his rain protection. “Here. You need it right now more than I do.”

Marinette felt her cheeks redden. This new boy, who was handsome, was removing the gum instead of putting it there? And now he was offering her his umbrella? She had gotten him all wrong, hadn’t she? Slowly, she accepted the handle. World open a hole and suck her up right now, get her out of this.

The umbrella suddenly snapped shut on her.

_Not like that!_

Adrien had been as surprised as her when it happened, but after a moment, he couldn’t help himself. He began to chuckle. As Marinette struggled to get the umbrella off her, she found that it was kind of silly too and giggled along with him.

“See you tomorrow,” he said kindly, walking to the curb where his ride was waiting.

“Uh, yeah! See you marrow- I mean, maroon- no, tomorrow! Whoa, why am I stammering?” Marinette collected herself when she became aware of her actions. Seriously, where had that come from? She never did that before!

Tikki, seeing that Marinette was alone, popped out of her purse. “I think I know why,” the kwami teased playfully.

Marinette thought to herself as Tikki hugged her cheek. Could the kwami be right? Could she be starting to gain a crush?

As Adrien approached his car, Plagg poked out of his shirt.

“Second day of school, and we’ve already got two lovebirds,” the cat kwami declared with a smug grin.

Adrien shook his head in amusement. “Whatever, Plagg. She’s just a friend.” Then it dawned on him. “A friend.” A new friend, like Nino and Plagg.

Three friends in two days? He hoped he could get more as the year progressed. The more friends he had, the less alone he felt.

With that warming thought in his mind, he got into the car before he got wet enough to be reprimanded by his father for potentially getting a cold.

Marinette watched Adrien ride away, and then made her way off campus to head home, intending to return the umbrella tomorrow.

If she had observed her surroundings, she would’ve seen Fu and Wayzz observing them from afar. The old man and his turtle kwami believed they found the perfect holders for the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculous.

It was shaping up to be the start of a great year.

* * *

In a dark office, calculating eyes examined the footage of the attack on the Vlad Co. building. While all three heroes caught their interest, Phantom in particular stood out to them.

“Another one? How intriguing,” they said with a tone of greedy fascination. “I will have to find out more about this boy, and when I do, he’s mine.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, note time!
> 
> [1]- Obvious setup for Mystery Meat
> 
> [2]- In the original episode, the bit with Nathalie and the Gorilla came after a scene jump to the classroom. It seemed easier to get their bit done first before heading over to the classroom.
> 
> [3]- Kitty Section foreshadowing
> 
> [4]- In this universe, Adrien has history with Chloe AND Sam. More on that later.
> 
> [5]- I cut out Ladybug telling Chat Noir how to break free because I feel he is smart enough to figure that out on his own. A similar cut will happen during the Evillustrator episode.
> 
> [6]- An instruction manual, an oxygen mask, cellphone features, and Internet access? What can't these weapons do? Roast marshmallows?
> 
> [7]- Gee, I wonder who owns that building.
> 
> [8]- Something we never got from the original episode was an apology from Kim for his part in the Stoneheart fiasco. If it weren't for him, Ivan may have possibly not become the first akuma victim. Having Kim actually apologize was one of the many fixes I wanted to include.


	4. One Kind of Menu Change

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sam's changes to the school cafeteria have some unforeseen consequences, and our heroes face the first of their other kind of enemy besides akumas- ghosts.

One Kind of Menu Change

The first month of school passed by fairly quickly. The week after Stoneheart’s appearance, Amity Park held a city-wide thank you party for Ladybug, Chat Noir, and Phantom. After Alya’s grounding was ended, Marinette went out to celebrate with her, and they ran into their homeroom classmates in the park. Not wanting to push his luck after being allowed to attend school, Adrien complied with his father’s decision to remain at home during the party. Though, he did sneak out for a brief few minutes to attend the event as Chat Noir since he, Ladybug, and Phantom were all invited to appear. Danny got Tucker and Sam to cover for him with the rest of the class, and Marinette found an excuse to sneak away to transform.

During that month, everyone fell into a routine. The city quickly created plans in the event Hawk Moth sent out another akuma. Businesses and schools alike agreed to the proposed plans, especially the schools so they could minimize the damage done by akumas to the students’ curriculum. Hawk Moth sent out several more akumas, but all were defeated by the heroes.

Along with the akumas came ghosts. Only Danny and his friends had encountered them so far, always within the Fenton household. As far as Danny’s parents and sister knew, the ghost portal was active, but no ghosts had come through yet. Danny fought them back into the portal, and he, along with Sam and Tucker if they were around, would try to fix whatever damage was caused without Ladybug’s wave of magical ladybugs around to do it for him. There was an incident with some ghost octopuses while they were in the lab with Jack, but Danny fought them back into the portal while his father’s back was turned. [1]

On another one of those routine mornings, Danny sat at his family’s kitchen table with a bowl of cereal. Jazz already had her breakfast, and was looking through a psychology textbook while Maddie welded another of her and Jack’s ghost hunting inventions. Danny moved to take another bite of his cereal, but his hand went intangible, dropping the spoon back into the bowl. Half awake, it took Danny a few moments before he realized what had happened and quickly hid his hand from sight.

Maddie turned off the welding torch, and held up the device she was working on. “Ta-da! It needed two more days than we thought, but it’s done!”

“What did you say?” Jack poked his head into the kitchen, eagerly asking. “It’s done?” He hurried into the kitchen, and took the device from his wife.

Growing increasingly annoyed with her parents, Jazz tried to hold her textbook closer to her face to block out the sight of them.

“Uh, what does it do?” Danny inquired, unsure if he wanted to know the answer.

“The Fenton Finder uses satellites to lead you right to the ghosts,” Jack answered.

Danny gaped at his parents. “It uses what to track what?” At that moment, his hand returned to being tangible. Before he could get clarification, the Fenton Finder whirred to life.

“Welcome to the Fenton Finder,” the machine stated with a womanly tone. “A ghost is near. Walk forward.”

Following the blip on the radar, Jack and Maddie followed it around the table towards Danny. He hopped out of his chair in response, attempting to back away from the machine. To his dismay, his parents followed the machine’s readings until he was backed up against a wall. Evidently confused, Jack and Maddie looked at Danny, and then at the Fenton Finder.

“Ghost located. Thank you for using the Fenton Finder,” the machine said.

As his parents puzzled over the Fenton Finder, Danny’s body involuntarily went intangible like his hand had done. Noticing this, Danny quickly willed himself back to normal before they saw him. Thankfully, they were too perplexed by their device to witness their son popping back into visible sight.

“What? That can’t be right,” Jack murmured, distractedly thinking what could’ve gone wrong.

Feeling somewhat guilty as the source of confusion, Danny contemplated telling them he was Phantom. Since he didn’t have a Miraculous like Ladybug and Chat Noir, he considered that maybe it wasn’t as dangerous for him to reveal his identity. Then again, if his parents knew and they got akumatized, they could hunt him down to try and make his teammates hand over their Miraculous for his safety. He couldn’t do anything about Sam and Tucker since they were present for the accident, but he wouldn’t have it any other way since they were such a big help keeping his secret under control.

Before he could say anything to his parents, Jazz cut in.

“I’ll tell you what’s not right,” the older sister said, joining her family at the wall. “Danny’s a growing boy, and he needs guidance that you guys aren’t providing.”

Maddie stared at her daughter with sympathy, knowing how her daughter got. “Sweetie, I know what we do doesn’t make sense sometimes, but you’re only-.”

“Sixteen?” Jazz cut her off. “Biologically, maybe. But psychologically, I’m an adult. And I will not let your obsession with ghosts pollute the mind of this impressionable little child!” For emphasis on her point, she pulled Danny into an awkward hug. “Come on, you unwanted wench. I’ll drive you to school.” She ushered Danny over to the table to gather their things, and head out for the day.

Behind them, their parents thought over Jazz’s words in perhaps not the way Jazz was hoping they would.

“That’s weird. Jazz never offers to drive Danny to school,” Maddie remarked thoughtfully.

“Which can only mean one thing,” Jack concluded with narrowed eyes, “that’s not our daughter. That’s a ghost!” Breaking into a run, he ran to catch up to the kids before they left. “Danny, no! It’s a trap!”

* * *

With just a little hassle from their parents and Jazz’s firm denial that she was NOT replaced by a ghost, the Fenton siblings were able to leave for school. One awkward car ride later, Jazz and Danny were at Casper High, splitting up to do their own thing. Danny went to go find Tucker and Sam while Jazz said she had junior things to do. Upon finding his friends, Danny immediately told them about his morning.

“That was way too close. If they had looked up for even a second, I would’ve been found out,” Danny said as they walked down the hall. “And it’s frustrating. I’ve had these powers for a few months now, and I’m still struggling to keep them under control.” He growled in irritation at himself. “If somebody catches me, I go from geek to freak around here.”

“Kinda like you’re doing right now?” Tucker clarified, pointing at Danny’s feet.

Danny looked down, and noticed he was sinking through the floor because his waist and everything below it decided to go intangible just like his hand did. Before anybody could notice the strange phenomenon, Sam and Tucker hurriedly helped Danny up, and he willed the lower half of his body back to normal.

“Gah, I like that I can help Ladybug and Chat Noir fight the akumas, but I also wish that since my parents made something that turned me half-ghost, that they could make something that would turn me back to normal,” Danny continued to say once the situation was averted.

“Danny, your powers make you unique. Unique is good,” Sam said in an attempt to cheer him up. “That’s why I’m an ultra-recyclo vegetarian.”

“I’m sorry. A what vegetarian?” Alya piped up, and the three friends noticed Alya and Marinette approaching them.

Marinette waved to their classmates. “Hi, guys!”

“Hey, Marinette!” Danny and Tucker greeted.

“Hey,” Sam said to Marinette and Alya.

“What was that you were saying about being a vegetarian?” Alya asked, curious. “I know what vegetarians are, but I’ve never heard of… whatever you said before that.”

Sam smiled at Alya, happy to share her preferences. “I said ultra-recyclo vegetarian. It means I don’t eat anything that had a face.”

Tucker smirked at Alya. “Don’t listen to what she says. The meat is where it’s at. Did you know for dinner last night, Danny had...” He inhaled deeply. “Sloppy joes.”

“Impressive,” Danny nodded in approval.

Alya looked at Tucker in stunned admiration. “How’d you do that?”

“Meat heightens the senses, and I’ve been eating meat for fourteen years straight,” Tucker boasted. “You learn to tell the difference between meat smells over time.”

Sam shot him a knowing look. “Well, your streak might just end today. Remember that menu change I told you about? It’s going into effect today.”

Marinette looked at Sam in confusion. “What are you talking about?”

“You’ll find out at lunch,” Sam answered, deciding to keep the change a surprise for those who didn’t know about it.

* * *

Morning classes passed, and the student body prepared to refill their stomachs for the second half of the school day. Most of the students were surprised when they stepped into the cafeteria, and saw posters advertising ‘Ultra-Recyclo Vegetarian Week- try out new extremely vegetarian food selections!’ They lined up to get food, not entirely sure if the lunch staff were joking, and soon discovered the staff were definitely not joking when their trays were loaded.

Marinette and Alya went through the line with Danny, Tucker, and Sam, and the baker’s daughter picked up one of the items from her tray.

“A slice of bread with grass on it?” Marinette questioned aloud.

Tucker immediately whirled on Sam with a betrayed expression. “What have you done?”

Sam blinked at the bread Marinette held up. “This is not what I had in mind.”

* * *

Over at FentonWorks, Jack and Maddie were in the middle of another day inventing weaponry for fighting ghosts. The Ghost Portal glowed green with activity, and unbeknownst to the portal’s creators, a humanoid ghost with green skin and wearing a lunch lady outfit emerged.

The ghost inhaled deeply through her nose, and smiled. “Ooh, someone’s changed the menu,” she said softly, not loud enough to attract Jack and Maddie’s attention.

She hovered up through the basement ceiling, Jack and Maddie unaware of their missed opportunity.

“Maybe this is a bad idea,” Maddie considered to her husband as they tinkered with their latest invention.

“No, this is perfect! When Jazz gets home, we’ll suck the ghost out of her with the Fenton Xtractor!” He held up the invention, which looked like a high-tech vacuum.

Maddie continued her line of thought. “But what if Jazz isn’t a ghost? What if we accidently hurt her?”

“Maddie, the Fenton Xtractor doesn’t hurt humans. See?” Showing his wife how it’s supposed to work, Jack’s short hair managed to get caught in the vacuum.

* * *

Back at the school, the students picked at their lunches, unsure if they could actually eat the grass included.

Marinette wasn’t as familiar with Sam’s eating preferences as much as Danny and Tucker were, so she was the first to ask. “Sam, are you sure this was a good idea?”

As Sam smiled, and prepared to respond, she was halted by Mr. Lancer resting his hand on her shoulder.

“Miss Manson,” he said, “the school board would like to thank you for speaking up and pushing us to make changes for the students’ benefit.”

While Lancer spoke, Tucker evidently noticed something in the teacher’s breath because he inhaled deeply through his nose and said, “Meat. Near.”

Lancer noticed Tucker’s strange behavior, and backed away once he realized what Tucker likely picked up on. “No no, the rumors about the new all-steak buffet in the teacher’s lounge are completely untrue.” The lie was blatantly in his voice, and was further incriminated when he took out a toothpick and picked between his teeth to hide any potential evidence. “Thanks again.” He hurried away before he was likely to be found out.

“Yeah,” Tucker said bitterly, glaring at Sam when the teacher left. “Thanks again for making us eat garbage, Sam.”

Sam raised her hands in defense. “Hey, it’s not my fault! And it’s not garbage! This wasn’t even in my menu plans. I knew people wouldn’t dive headfirst into dedicated ultra-recyclo vegetarian diets, so I started off with lighter suggestions in my proposal.” [2]

“So, you’re saying somebody changed your menu?” Alya checked, taking out her phone and tapping at it. “Sounds like a news story in the making.”

Tucker glanced at his tray. “It’s still garbage.”

A couple tables over, Adrien was seated with Chloe and the A-listers. Unlike everyone else, Adrien, Chloe, and Sabrina all had gourmet meals in front of them while Dash, Kwan, and even Paulina and Valerie had the Ultra-Recyclo Vegetarian meals.

“You see, Adrikins?” Chloe said to her childhood friend as she picked up a piece of sushi and ate it. “This is why your daddy has your chef make your lunches. High school cafeteria food has a reputation for being awful. Today, it’s especially ridiculous.”

Adrien looked at the trays of the other popular kids. “…Okay, Father might have had a point.”

In the kitchen, the two or three people on the lunch staff went into the back room, all eager to eat their hamburgers they kept hidden from the students. If they had lingered there for a moment longer, they would’ve witnessed the ghost from the Fentons’ ghost portal phasing in through the ceiling. She only looked around for a few moments before spotting a guide to making meals for ultra-recyclo vegetarians on a countertop. Picking up the book, she began to look through it.

Out in the cafeteria, a sliver of breath escaped Danny’s lips. His ghost sense.

Just a few seats away from him inside Marinette’s purse, the same happened to Tikki. At the A-listers’ table, Plagg experienced the same thing. [3]

“Uh, guys?” Danny spoke up, having been mostly silent since the group entered the lunch room. “I’ve got a problem…” Something brown and full of grass hit the back of his head.

“FENTON!”

“…Make that two problems,” Danny corrected, hearing the familiar yell from Dash.

Dash marched over from the A-listers’ table, bearing a plate of mud with grass in it. “I ordered three mud pies, and you know what I got? Three mud pies- with mud from the ground! All because of your stupid girlfriend!”

“She’s not my girlfriend/I’m not his girlfriend!” Danny and Sam shouted at the same time.

Using his free hand, Dash grabbed a fistful of Danny’s shirt and lifted him off his seat. “These are the best years of my life! After high school, it’s all downhill for me! How am I supposed to enjoy my glory days eating mud?!”

“Actually, it’s topsoil,” Sam found herself correcting.

Alya rose to her feet, the same protective instinct that drove her to get Marinette away from Chloe on the first day of school igniting. “Hey! Put him down!”

Marinette also got up, preparing to intervene. “Alya, don’t!”

Dash shoved the two girls aside, and practically threw Danny onto the table. “Stay out of this! He’s going to eat it! All of it!”

At the A-listers’ table, Adrien watched the moment unfold, horrified. He spun around to face Chloe. “Shouldn’t we do something?”

Chloe shook her head, allowing Sabrina to dab her face with a napkin and clear away their lunch supplies. “No way, Adrikins. This is between Baxter and Fenton. You do not want to get in the middle of that, trust me.”

Conflicted, Adrien turned back to watch Dash bully Danny. He never encountered this sort of problem before when he was homeschooled.

Danny picked up a spoon, prepared to do whatever he had to do in order to get Dash off his back. Already having her phone out, Alya held it up to record, as did other students with a clear view. Marinette stared at Alya, appalled.

“You’re filming this?” Marinette whispered, leaning over to her new friend.

“Just so I can show this to the teachers and get them to do something about it,” Alya replied quietly.

Right when Danny was about to insert a spoonful of mud pie into his mouth, his ghost sense went off again. This time, he spotted something green lurking around in the kitchen behind all the students.

A ghost? At the school? They never got out as far as his basement before. He had to do something that would let him slip away and deal with the problem. His eyes went to the mud pie.

_That’s it!_

“Uh, garbage fight!” Danny grabbed the whole mud pie off his plate, and threw it at Dash’s face.

That single throw started a chain reaction. Within moments, all the students in the cafeteria were engaged in a food fight. Adrien moved quickly, ducking under the popular table. Chloe, Sabrina, and Paulina joined him soon after; Chloe shrieked how she could not get mud and grass on her designer clothes.

Initially horrified, Adrien soon began to laugh. “It’s just like in the movies!” Chloe, Sabrina, and Paulina all stared at him with baffled expressions on their faces.

“It’s not garbage,” Sam valiantly tried to protest. Before she could argue more, Danny pulled her under the table.

Danny, Sam, Tucker, Marinette, and Alya all hid under the table, avoiding most of the fight. Alya continued to film with her phone, a wide grin on her face.

“A food fight at my new school? This is so going on my personal blog!” the aspiring journalist squealed.

“Alright, here’s the plan- Sam, Tucker, and I are going to get more ammo from the kitchen. Given how well it’s going over with everyone, there’s probably a lot of leftovers we can use,” Danny stated, getting the other four teens’ attention. He pointed at Marinette and Alya. “Marinette, you and Alya go get Mr. Lancer and Principal Damocles. They’ll shut this down.”

“But if you’re getting more food, you’ll get in trouble when they get here,” Marinette pointed out.

“So? I’m already in trouble because I made the first throw, and Dash would likely blame this whole thing on me in the first place. At least this way, we have a chance of surviving this mess. Come on, guys.” Danny crawled out into the fray, with Sam and Tucker following.

“You’re gonna pay for this, Fenton!” Dash could be heard shouting.

Danny rolled his eyes, but continued onward. “Great, I’m still his favorite.”

Alya nudged Marinette. “He’s got a point, as much as I hate how bad of a point it is, girl. Let’s go. Exit’s this way.” She started to crawl out into the fight, going in the opposite direction Danny and the others went.

Marinette reluctantly moved to follow Alya, but was stopped by the urgent tapping of her purse against her side. Remaining hidden under the table, she unclasped it.

“What is it, Tikki? An akuma?” She asked.

“No, Marinette, but it might be just as bad,” Tikki replied, looking worriedly up at her holder. “I sense a ghost is nearby!”

Marinette stared at the kwami. “A ghost? Now?” She looked up and around.

During her look around, she thought she spotted something in the kitchen that didn’t look normal…

Marinette gasped. “My friends are going into the kitchen! They don’t know there’s a ghost in there! Standby, Tikki.” Clasping her purse shut, she crawled quickly to try and catch up to Danny and the others.

While Marinette struggled to get past all the fighting, Danny, Sam, and Tucker reached the kitchen door and slipped inside without anyone noticing. On the other side of the door, they found the ghost rummaging through the kitchen.

“Huh. Shouldn’t be so bad. She looks kinda like my grandma,” Tucker commented as the Lunch Lady examined a bowl of salad.

“Then shouldn’t she be haunting a bingo hall?” Danny remarked.

Lunch Lady noticed that the three teens had entered the kitchen, and floated over to them.

“Excuse me, children. Today’s lunch is meatloaf, but I don’t see the meatloaf. Did someone change the menu?” She asked politely.

Somewhat vengeful, Tucker jabbed his thumb at Sam. “Yeah, she did.”

In a matter of nanoseconds, the Lunch Lady’s civil manner flipped to outrage. “You changed the menu?!” Her wispy hair stared to flap around like campfire flames, and she bared razor sharp teeth. The teens couldn’t help but flinch back as she started to exude a green, fiery aura. “The menu has been the same for fifty years!”

“Get behind me,” Danny said to Tucker and Sam, aware that their ghostly foe was about to attack.

Sam and Tucker did as he requested, but Sam couldn’t resist casting a doubtful look at Danny’s thin arms. “Wow, I feel safe.”

Ignoring the jab, Danny took a battle stance. “I’m going ghost!”

At that moment, Marinette opened the kitchen door, peeking her head in. “Guys, you need to get out. There’s a…” The girl whispered sharply, but lost her voice when she saw two rings of light surrounded Danny and changed his appearance to that of her hero teammate, Phantom. “…Ghost.” Her stunned state got even worse when she saw the Lunch Lady, her first real ghost sighting, opposing him.

Fully transformed, Phantom flew up to confront the opponent. Thrusting a finger at her, he declared, “I command you to… go away!”

The order was given hesitantly. Ghosts weren’t like akumas, Danny knew that much from growing up with his parents, so he didn’t know how to defeat them like he had been doing to Hawk Moth’s victims. Especially one so far from his family’s ghost portal.

Even if his command wasn’t strongly voiced, the Lunch Lady clearly didn’t like being told what to do. She raised a hand that glowed green with ghostly energy, and the dishes in the kitchen began to rise at her control. Swinging her hand in Phantom’s direction, the dishes soared at him. Unlike his earlier instances of intangibility earlier in the day, Phantom willed his entire body to let the kitchen supplies pass through him. They shattered against the wall behind him, and once the last one had smashed, the ghost hero allowed himself to be tangible again.

“Is that… Phantom?” Marinette spoke up as she fully entered the kitchen, shocking Sam and Tucker into looking behind them.

“Marinette!” Sam darted her eyes toward Phantom and back to her classmate. “Uh, yeah! He discovered that there was a real ghost in the school kitchen, and came to stop it.”

“And Danny was so scared by the ghost that isn’t Phantom, he hid away in a cupboard,” Tucker added quickly. “Living with ghost hunting parents really makes a guy develop a phobia of them.”

Marinette glanced at the window into the cafeteria, and pointed. “Close the kitchen! We can’t let the ghost hurt the other students.” [4]

Sam and Tucker looked where she pointed, and realized she was right. If they could cut the kitchen off from the rest of the cafeteria, they could minimize the damage done by the fight. The pair jumped at the window shutter, and pulled it down so nobody else saw the fight going on. No sooner than pulling it down completely, the Lunch Lady sent a wave of dishes flying at Sam.

Acting quickly, Phantom caught all the plates. When the Lunch Lady sent a third wave at Tucker, he swooped over and caught those as well without dropping any of the ones he already had. He even caught a few with his teeth. Once he was sure the opposing ghost had no more dishes to attack with, he set them on a long stretch of empty counter.

“Well, if this superhero thing doesn’t work out, at least I could have an exciting career as a busboy,” Phantom quipped, staring into his reflection on a plate. In the reflection, he could see the ovens begin to shake. Whirling around, he saw the Lunch Lady controlling them.

“I control lunch. Lunch is sacred! Lunch has rules!” The ghost snarled. Briefly breaking her rant, she held up a ghostly piece of cake. “Anybody want cake?”

Marinette, Sam, and Tucker found themselves nodding in confirmation. Even though the cake was of ethereal origin, it still looked delicious to them.

“Too bad!” The Lunch Lady snapped, returning to her previous raging state. “Children who change my menu don’t get dessert!” Phasing through the ceiling, she allowed the ovens to start spewing unnatural fire.

The four kids dodged the flames quickly, and felt an increased sense of danger when the ovens came to life. Fueled by paranormal life, the ovens charged at the children.

“Grab Marinette!” Phantom shouted, diving at the three other teens.

Being the closest to her, Tucker grasped her arm right before Phantom landed behind the trio and extended his powers of intangibility to them. Not wasting any time, Phantom pulled the three teens through the back wall.

The ovens crashed against the wall, all their energy vanishing upon impact.

* * *

On the other side of the wall, Phantom and the students landed in the hallway. Phantom let go of them, returning them to tangibility.

“Hey, it worked!” Phantom cheered.

“This is the thanks I get for thinking like an individual,” Sam couldn’t help but snap in annoyance at the results of her menu changes.

While Sam fumed, Marinette sent a smile Phantom’s way. “Thanks for saving us, Phantom. You did really well.”

“Thanks,” Phantom said, noticing the hallway began to shake and the lights start to short out. “But I don’t think this is over yet.”

The students yelped as lockers burst open, and other kids’ school supplies swirled out down the hall in a strong breeze.

“Wait…” Tucker caught a scent of something in the air, and he, along with the other teens, spotted food floating down the hallway. “Steak? Rib-eye? Porterhouse? Medium rare?”

Notably, all the food that was flying through were meat products. Steak. Hamburgers. Hot dogs. Nearly every kind of meat a person could think of, it was gathering around the Lunch Lady, who stood at the end of the hallway, and formed a suit of meat.

“But… where did it come from?” Tucker wondered before he remembered something that was said earlier. “Lancer!”

* * *

In the teacher’s lounge, all the instructors were gathered. Principal Damocles and Mr. Lancer stood beside a table covered with a sheet.

“Staff, it is my great pleasure to present your all steak buffet!” Principal Damocles announced as Lancer pulled the sheet off.

All the teachers gasped, Miss Bustier and Miss Mendeliev among them.

Confused by their reactions, Damocles and Lancer looked at the table, and suddenly understood. All the meat that had been laid out had vanished.

“Paradise Lost!” Lancer cried out.

* * *

“Prepare to learn why meat is the most powerful of the five food groups!” Lunch Lady declared in her new meat suit, which allowed her to tower over the teens. Just like before, she broke her threatening demeanor to something softer. “Cookie?” She held up a chocolate chip cookie.

They all shook their heads.

Frowning, the Lunch Lady snapped back into her state of rage. “Then perish!”

“Forget it!” Phantom proclaimed, standing protectively in front of the other kids. “The only thing that has an expiration date here is you!”

Without warning, his transformation reverted. In Phantom’s place stood Danny.

Marinette gave a sharp gasp, pretending she hadn’t seen him transform earlier. “Danny?”

“Whoops, didn’t mean to do that.” Danny glanced back at the others, unsure of what to do without his transformation available. Not to mention one of his classmates found out his secret…

Roaring in anger, the Lunch Lady swatted Danny, Marinette, and Tucker aside. She grabbed Sam, and took off down the hall.

Getting back on their feet, Tucker turned towards Danny and Marinette. “Come on, Danny. Change back. We gotta go!”

“You three aren’t going anywhere!” Lancer seized Danny and Tucker by the backs of their shirts. Still on the floor, Marinette gasped upon noticing the teacher. Beside him was Dash, whose face and chest were caked with mud pies.

“Ha! Told you that you would pay, Fenton!” Dash sneered.

Lancer escorted the three teens to his office. While Danny and Tucker struggled, Marinette went willingly like the good student she strived to be; that and Lancer didn’t have a hand on her like he did with the boys. Dash followed behind both to make sure Marinette didn’t run off and to see that Danny got in trouble.

The three freshmen sat in front of Lancer’s desk while he fished out their files from the designated cabinet. Dash leaned against the wall beside the door, watching the proceedings as if it were some kind of show.

“Tucker Foley… chronic tardiness, talking in class, loitering outside the girls’ locker room…” Lancer read off, not noticing Tucker’s smile at the mention of the locker room. “Marinette Dupain-Cheng… also chronic tardiness, dropped seventeen beakers since the start of the school year, banned for life from handling fragile school property…” Marinette blushed at the part about being banned. “Daniel Fenton… thirty-four beakers dropped since the start of the school year, also banned for life from handling fragile school property, but no severe mischief before today. So tell me students, why did you plan to destroy the school cafeteria?!” The students flinched at the rise in his voice.

“Dash started it!” Danny objected, pointing to the smug jock. “He was going to force me to eat his lunch!”

Dash pulled away from his corner, and curled his hands into fists. “He’s lying, Mr. Lancer! I ate my super vegetarian lunch like the growing football star I am!”

Marinette jumped from her chair at Dash’s claim, her berserk button pushed. “No, he’s lying! Tucker and I were both there when he came to our table and tried to make Danny do it!”

Lancer hummed, looking between the two sides. “Do you have any proof? Seeing as Mr. Baxter is currently covered in today’s lunch and you’re not, I’m not very inclined to believe you.”

The door burst open, making Dash startle from where he had been standing right next to it.

Alya marched in, a determined look on her face and mud pie scattered all over her shirt. “Mr. Lancer, there you are. I have proof that Danny is innocent.”

“Oh, do you? May I see this proof?” Lancer inquired.

The aspiring journalist nodded, pulling out her phone. “It’s all right here on my phone. I was going to show you or Mr. Damocles this to expose the bullying that has been going on, but the fight in the cafeteria made it extra important I show you this right away.”

Lancer sighed at having to deal with a new development. “Very well. The three of you remain in your seats. Mister Baxter, watch the door. Miss Cesaire, if we could take this out into the hall?”

“Thanks, Alya, you’re a life saver,” Marinette said as she and the boys remained seated while Alya, Dash, and Mr. Lancer all left the room.

Once the door shut, Tucker spun to face Danny and Marinette. “We have to find Sam. I feel like it’s my fault that she got kidnapped.”

“Maybe that’s because you told the ghost she was responsible for the menu changes?” Danny retorted, spotting a set of monitors tuned into the school cameras and rising from his seat to look at them.

Tucker inhaled through his nose sharply. “The meat is still in the building. Two hundred yards, tops.”

Danny looked at each of the monitors until he noticed something on one of the screens. He pointed at the one showing the school’s storage space. “Check it out. Meat trail.” Going back to Marinette and Tucker, he gestured at the former. “Marinette, you stay here and cover for us. Lancer is going to be really ticked that we ditched.”

“And deal with his rage alone? He could get akumatized.” Marinette crossed her arms. “No way! I’m coming with you. Besides, I want to help save Sam too.”

Danny and Tucker shared a look, silently discussing the issue before Danny sighed heavily. “Fine.” Transforming, Danny took Marinette and Tucker by the arm and phased them through the floor. The two inexperienced humans yelped at the sensation.

Moments later, Lancer was leading Alya and Dash back into the office. Alya seemed upset while strangely Dash was the same way.

“I stand corrected, you three,” Lancer was saying with eyes closed. Alya and Dash noticed before him the absence of three freshman students waiting punishment. “But, you did technically start the food fight too so you’ll all be- in greater trouble!” The vice-principal/teacher finally noticed, and glared heatedly at the empty seats.

* * *

Phantom and his passengers descended down into the school storage, and he reverted them back to tangibility. Once his feet hit the floor, Tucker ran to a nearby container of meat.

“Meat, how I’ve missed you!” The geek spread his arms around the crate as much as he could.

Phantom shot his friend an annoyed expression. “How is it I’m the one with ghost powers and you’re the weird kid?”

Marinette raised a finger to her lips, shushing them. “Do you hear that?”

The trio listened quietly for a moment, picking up the sound of chatter. Following the voice, they peeked around a corner, and saw the Lunch Lady hovering in front of Sam, who was trapped in a pile of assorted meats.

“My dear child, meat is good for kids. It helps them grow and makes them smile.” The Lunch Lady implored, attempting to feed Sam a chicken leg. “Why won’t you eat it?”

Sam stubbornly shifted her face away every time the chicken leg was shoved near it. “We don’t need meat. That’s fact!”

The Lunch Lady snarled at Sam’s reply. “Silence! You need discipline, manners, and respect. You know where that comes from? Meat!” Done with her shouting, she held up the chicken again, along with some cooked fish, as she smiled sweetly. “Chicken or fish?”

Phantom glanced back at Marinette and Tucker. “I’ll take care of the ghost. You guys find a way to get Sam out of that pile of meat.” Taking flight, he flew around the corner.

Tucker smirked as an idea came to mind, pulling a fork and knife out of his pockets. “Way ahead of you.”

Marinette glanced at the tech geek oddly. “Do you always carry those?”

Sensing an intrusion, the Lunch Lady turned to confront whoever was interrupting her business, only to get a white gloved fist to the face. She slammed against a wall, and fell to the floor. Phantom landed before her, silently challenging her to attack back.

Sam felt relief at being rescued by her friend, and then noticed Tucker attempting to cut his way through the pile of meat she was trapped in with his utensils.

“Don’t worry, Sam,” Tucker said enthusiastically, “I’ll have you out in no time.”

The extreme vegetarian frowned at him. “You’ve got to be kidding me.” She didn’t have to be annoyed for long because Marinette stepped up beside Tucker and tried to wade into the meat pile to reach her.

“Here, let me help,” Marinette said, extending an arm to grab Sam’s to pull her out. When Sam didn’t budge, Marinette grunted, “Man, that ghost has you stuck in there good.”

Phantom did a front somersault into the air, thrusting his foot out to kick at the Lunch Lady. Unfortunately for him, he made the attack early enough for her to thwart it by gripping his leg.

“This is why children need meat,” the Lunch Lady lectured, “you’re nothing but skin and bones!” She threw him at the wall, but he went intangible before he could hit it. After disappearing through the wall, he phased back in, spotting her summon shish kabobs from a crate and send them at him. In an effort to dodge the skewers, he tried to stretch out, only to discover he actually split his body in half at his torso. The kabobs went through the empty space between his upper half and his legs. Realizing he found a new ghost trick he could add to his skillset, he smiled.

The Lunch Lady, apparently angry she had missed, roared loudly and summoned meat from all the crates in the room. Even the hot dog stuck on Tucker’s fork he had been about to eat. In the process, summoning the meat also had the effect of releasing Sam from her trap.

Phantom pulled himself back together, and watched as the Lunch Lady gathered the meat around her to form the monster she had become in the hallway before Lancer had busted them. She grabbed him with a meaty fist, and threw him at the wall again. Once again, he phased through the wall, only taking a bit longer to return this time.

With him seemingly taken care of, the Lunch Lady turned her attention towards the three teens still in the room. She loomed over them, screaming loudly.

“Run?” Tucker asked the girls.

“Definitely run,” Marinette confirmed.

The three students turned heel and ran to the exit with the Lunch Lady in pursuit.

Phantom returned to the storage, and hearing the frightened screams of his friends, went to go help them. Cutting through several aisles of crates, he caught up with them and gathered them in his arms. The Lunch Lady prepared to pound them with meaty fists, but Phantom turned them all intangible and flew them through another wall, effectively escaping. The meat-commanding ghost, surprised by the kids’ escape, hit the wall and fell to the floor in clumps.

On the other side of the wall, Phantom and his friends emerged outside the school.

“Geez, Danny,” Sam began to say, seeing how tired the fighting was making him, “fighting meat monsters, flying through walls… you must be exhausted.”

“What gives you that idea?” Phantom asked, struggling to remain awake.

The group fell to the ground as Phantom transformed back into Danny. The drained teen fell asleep, slumping to the ground. Watching him sleep, Sam exchanged glances with Tucker and Marinette.

* * *

Once school ended for the day, Adrien was driven home by the Gorilla. He had only gotten into the front door when Nathalie appeared beside him.

“Adrien, your father would like a word with you,” the assistant stated in her professional tone.

Blinking in surprise by the sudden request, he followed her into his father’s atelier.

“You wanted to see me, Father?” Adrien asked, entering the room.

Gabriel looked up from his work station, staring at his son sternly. “The school sent out a message saying there had been an outburst in the cafeteria. A food fight, they said. Do you have anything to say about the matter?”

Adrien was taken aback. “Father, if you’re implying what I think you are, I had nothing to do with that. One of the players on the football team tried to force a classmate of mine to eat his lunch because he blamed him for the menu change, and that’s what started the fight. I took no part in it. Chloe and I may have been the only two students that didn’t participate. We hid the whole time.”

“I see,” Gabriel said shortly. Parent and child continued to look at each other in silence until Gabriel spoke again. “I allowed you to attend public school, believing you would benefit from the experience. Given that it’s only a month into the school year and there’s already been a disruption of that magnitude, I am beginning to think otherwise.”

“Father…” Adrien felt his chest clench. He couldn’t be pulled out this soon.

“I am only beginning to think otherwise,” Gabriel continued, seeing Adrien’s hurt expression. “Since this was only one major disturbance, I will let it slide.”

Adrien quietly let the tension roll off his shoulders.

“However, if I hear of another incident like this again, I will consider returning you to homeschooling. Is that clear?” Gabriel warned.

Adrien nodded understandably. “Yes, Father.”

“Good. You may go up to your room and begin your homework.” Gabriel finally broke off his gaze, and returned to his work.

Seeing he was dismissed, Adrien left the atelier to head upstairs. Once in his room, Plagg emerged from his pocket in Adrien’s shirt.

“Well, today was fun,” the cat kwami said, hovering over to his cheese stash.

Adrien began to spread out his homework on his computer desk, sending a glance towards his door before allowing himself to smile. “Yeah, it was, wasn’t it? I’ve seen food fights in movies before, but being in the middle of it was something else. I wish I had thrown something too.”

“So why didn’t you?” Plagg prodded, tossing up a wedge of cheese and swallowing it whole.

Adrien shook his head, opening a notebook and textbook. “I couldn’t. If I had been caught participating, Father would’ve pulled me out of school faster than you just ate that cheese. You heard him down there. If something like that happens again, I’m back to learning in the dining room with Nathalie. I was already pushing my luck by asking to attend public school. I can’t get too greedy.”

“Kid, you are far from the greediest holder I’ve had,” Plagg said, floating over to watch the boy do his assignments. “Believe me, wanting to go to school so you can socialize isn’t that greedy. But, speaking of school, we should talk about what else happened during lunch.”

“That’s right,” Adrien remembered, peeking at Plagg. “You mentioned something in between periods about a ghost?”

“Yeah, along with kwamis and genies and those sorts of things, ghosts also exist. Ghosts have an ability called the Ghost Sense, which allows them to learn if a ghost they aren’t aware of is nearby. While us kwamis aren’t ghosts, we have similar enough powers that we are able to use the Ghost Sense like they do.”

Humming thoughtfully, Adrien asked, “Then if you sensed a ghost earlier, why didn’t we see it?”

Plagg shrugged his little arms. “Some ghosts are less direct with their goals. Instead of getting in your face, they like to sneak around to do stuff. Whatever that ghost wanted to do, it apparently didn’t want to bother anybody.”

“Right, that makes sense. What do we do, then? How do we stop them? Capture them like akumas?”

“Capture a ghost? Miraculous holders have been trying to capture ghosts for millennia,” Plagg exclaimed in shock at Adrien’s suggestion. “Miraculous magic is kinda compatible with ghosts, sure, but we haven’t been able to do more than just drive them off for a while.”

Adrien smiled at Plagg’s expression of disbelief. “I’m sure we can figure something out.” Returning to his homework, he continued to say, “in the meantime, let’s keep a lookout for that ghost. Okay?”

Plagg groaned. “If we’re going to be ghost hunting, I’m going to need a lot of Camembert.” Flying over to his cheese, he began to eat more wedges.

* * *

When Jazz arrived home, she was concerned to find the living room pitch black.

“Mom? Dad?” She stepped through the entryway, and the door slammed behind her.

Two balls rolled to her feet, hissing out smoke and obscuring her vision.

“Now, Maddie! Hit her!” Her father yelled out. “I’m moving in! Get my back!”

She felt something tugging at her hair rather painfully and started to scream. When the smoke cleared, she was able to see her parents clinging to her knees and what looked like a vacuum cleaner they had turned into a ghost hunting weapon trying to suck in her hair.

“This is all going in the memoir,” she muttered, not at all shocked by her parents’ antics and completely furious.

Her parents rose to their feet, and right as she was about to give them another one of her lectures, the front door opened again. Sam and Tucker carried Danny in, and Marinette followed close behind them.

“Hey, Mr. and Mrs. Fenton! What a day at school. Danny’s so wiped out we’re just going to take him up to his room without any parental interaction at all,” Tucker said rapidly without leaving room for reply.

“No need to tell us where to go,” Sam added as they carted their friend upstairs to his room.

Marinette gave the parents an awkward wave. “And I’m hanging out with them this afternoon, which is why I came here when I usually don’t. Okay, bye!” She followed them up, and closed Danny’s bedroom door behind her.

Once the group was gone, Maddie sent her husband a bewildered look at the strange behavior of the kids. Looking at him, she could see Jack was thinking and exactly what he was thinking about. “Jack, Danny is not a ghost.”

“No, he’s not,” Jack agreed, gazing over at Jazz struggling to get her hair out of the Fenton Xtractor. “Jazz is.”

* * *

Danny awoke in his bedroom, laying on his bed. Sitting up, he noticed Sam, Tucker, and Marinette all loitering around.

“What’s going on?” He asked, looking at the three of them.

“You passed out,” answered Tucker, “you’ve been asleep for four days.”

“Four days!” Danny exclaimed, alarmed by the length of time.

Tucker chuckled at the panic on his friend’s face. “Just kidding. You’ve been asleep for four hours.”

Sam elbowed Tucker in the side. “Knock it off, Tucker. This is serious. We almost got killed by a ghost back there.”

Tucker jabbed a finger at her, scowling. “Hey, this wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t tried to change the menu. You had to be unique and take the meat away.”

“Excuse me for trying to be progressive and make the school more accommodating for students’ dietary choices,” Sam defended, “Besides, it’s like I said earlier, I didn’t mean for the changes to be that extreme. Someone messed with them.”

Tucker huffed. “Well, regardless of someone messing with your changes or not, I’m going to get our normal menu back.”

“Guys,” Marinette stood up from her seat, hands raised with caution. “Calm down. You don’t want to attract an akuma.”

“Trust me, Marinette, I am calm.” Tucker assured her. “I’m going to productively channel my anger into getting back my meat.” Squeezing past Sam, he made to leave.

Sam frowned indignantly. “No, you’re not! Vegetarian Week isn’t over yet. It’s only the first day!” She stomped out after him, their argument fading as they got further from Danny’s room.

Danny and Marinette watched them leave, and Danny sighed, laying back on his bed.

“Aw, geez,” he mumbled, hating to see his friends fight.

Marinette sent him a sympathetic glance, nibbling at her lip for a moment. “Hey, Danny? About today…”

Danny glanced at her. “Oh. Right. My secret. Listen, you can’t tell anyone. Especially not my par-“

She held up a hand to interrupt him. “It’s okay. I won’t tell anybody. You can trust me.”

“Thanks,” Danny sighed. “I can’t believe I managed to hide my secret for a whole two months before I blew it to someone. I wasn’t careful enough.”

Walking over to her classmate, Marinette rested a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t blame yourself. It was my fault for not doing what you told me and Alya to do. In hindsight, I can see why you sent her and me away while you wanted Sam and Tucker with you.” Marinette gasped as a realization came to her. “Ah, Alya! Mr. Lancer!” She began to pace back and forth across the bedroom. “I totally forgot about them. Oh, we’re in so much trouble tomorrow!”

Seeing she was having one of her infamous spirals, Danny sat up again. “Marinette, relax. Whatever you’re thinking is going to happen probably won’t be as bad as you’re making it out to be, and besides, we ditched for a good reason.”

“…You’re right.” Marinette took a deep breath to compose herself. She sent a smile over to Danny. “Thanks. I needed that.” Thinking for a moment, she asked, “What do we do about Sam and Tucker? I’ve never seen them so mad at each other before.”

“They’ll get over it. They never stay mad at each other for long.”

“You sure?”

“Positive.”

Marinette decided to take his word on the subject. He knew them better than she did. “I should get home. See you tomorrow?”

“Yeah. Take it easy tonight, okay? You’ve had a crazy afternoon.”

She smirked at him. “No less crazy than afternoons have been since the akuma attacks started. Get some rest.”

Danny watched her leave before getting up and closing his door to have some privacy. He sighed heavily.

“I really hope things go back to normal,” he said to himself.

* * *

The next day, Danny entered the cafeteria with Marinette and Alya, the latter of whom had gotten an excuse from Marinette about their mysterious escape the day before. Upon entering the cafeteria, Danny couldn’t help but roll his eyes in embarrassment. “Or things could get worse.”

The cafeteria was split into two halves. On one side, almost every student had brought a bag lunch from home. Each bag lunch had some form of meat included. Hot dogs, hamburgers, fish, you name it and someone likely had it. On the other side, students had trays filled with assorted vegetables including the bread with grass and the mud pies. Danny was quick to notice his homeroom classmates had split between the two factions. Kim, Alix, Max, Nathaniel, and Nino were on the meat side while Rose, Juleka, Ivan, and Mylene were on the veggie side. [5]

Of course, Tucker and Sam were leading the two sides.

“What do we want?” Tucker rallied, holding a megaphone in front of his mouth.

“Meat!” His supporters chanted.

“When do we want it?” Tucker demanded.

“Now!” The meat side roared.

“Veggies now!” Sam and her followers shouted, waving banners. “Veggies forever!”

When Sam and Tucker noticed Danny’s arrival, they left their teams to continue protesting while they went over to where he, Marinette, and Alya hadn’t chosen a side. Somehow, he wasn’t surprised that Chloe and Sabrina were staying out of this. They seemed to be enjoying it even, at least Chloe was. Sabrina naturally followed whatever Chloe did. What surprised Danny was that Adrien hadn’t picked a side.

“You guys put together two protests in one night?” Danny asked, incredulous at their achievement.

Tucker puffed his chest boastfully. “Meat-lovers, Danny. Always ready to fight. And our high protein diet gives us the energy we need to do it quickly.”

“Ultra-recyclo vegetarians are always ready to protest,” Sam retorted, “and because we don’t have to waste time cooking our food, we can do it even faster.”

Adrien looked distinctively uneasy at the whole thing. “Isn’t this all a little extreme?”

“Sorry, dude, but everybody needs to make a choice. You’re either with us-“ Tucker responded.

“Or against him,” Sam cut in.

The pair loomed over Danny, demanding, “So whose side are you on?”

-LB-CN-P-

In Hawk Moth’s lair, the magical villain opened his window into the city.

“Yes. Lots of children with anger over their lunch menu. Either a meat-based akuma or a vegetable-based one would make sense.” The masked villain gathered a butterfly in his hands. “Perfect, now to find a suitable victim- wait, what’s that energy?” His eyes went wide. “I’ve never sensed this before.”

-LB-CN-P-

An oddly strong breeze began to swirl around the cafeteria. Marinette, Danny, and his friends gasped as they realized what was happening. In Marinette’s purse and Adrien’s pocket, the kwamis let out a breath of Ghost Sense at the same moment Danny did.

Meat on Tucker’s side of the cafeteria flew from the plates and bags. They wove together, forming a giant, red creature bigger than the one Phantom and the kids encountered the previous day.

With glowing green eyes, the meat monster smirked evilly down at the terrified students. “It’s lunch time!” The Lunch Lady taunted.

Hearing the meat monster speak set the students off. Almost every kid screamed and ran for the exit.

“Meat, why have you betrayed me?” Tucker, one of the few students to not immediately flee, lamented.

Danny quickly sent a glance over to Marinette, who nodded in silent agreement.

“Alya, come on. We should go,” Marinette said, grabbing her bestie’s arm.

Alya already had her phone out and was about to record. She turned towards Marinette, a confused expression on her face. “But if we leave, we’ll miss the heroes come in.”

Ignoring Alya’s protest, Marinette dragged her out of the cafeteria. “I think that’s for the best.”

Danny watched the two girls leave, along with Adrien, and frowned sternly at his two arguing friends. “Guys, I think it’s time to make up. Now.”

Getting the message, Sam and Tucker ceased their feud and came together around Danny for a group hug. There was a flash of light between them, and when they pulled apart, Phantom stood in Danny’s place.

Phantom jumped into the air, ready to deal with the Lunch Lady for good.

Out in the halls with the rest of the students, Adrien inconspicuously slipped into an unused classroom. Plagg flew out of his shirt pocket once Adrien was sure they were alone.

“After this, I think everyone will agree that those two weren’t the best food group,” Plagg remarked cheekily, “it’s obviously dairy.”

Adrien chuckled, knowing very well what Plagg was referring to. “We’ll see about that. Plagg, claws out!”

* * *

Pulling Alya towards the school’s front exit, Marinette figured that she gave Danny enough time to transform. So when they were almost at the doors, Marinette pretended to lose grip on Alya’s wrist. Just as she thought, Alya spun around to head back to the cafeteria.

“Alya, you shouldn’t go back there. It’s dangerous!” Marinette reached out a hand to her friend.

Alya gave her an apologetic smile. “I know, but someone has to get footage of the fight. People deserve to know what’s going on. I’ll try and catch up with you later once things have calmed down, okay?” She took off without waiting for Marinette’s response.

Shaking her head at her friend’s passion, Marinette rushed into the nearest restroom and hid in a stall.

Tikki flew out of her purse when she opened it. “Your first ghost fight. You ready?”

“I’ll have to be.” Marinette took a deep breath. “Tikki, spots on!”

* * *

While the heroes were transforming and joining the battle, Jazz was outside with another student, one who looked even more goth than Sam or Juleka.

“Spike, you have to open up to your parents.” Jazz pleaded with the boy. “Be true to yourself and them. Tell them how you feel. It’s not like they’re going to attack you or anything.”

Suddenly, a glowing green net encased Jazz and pulled her away from Spike, who watched listlessly.

“I’ve got her!” Jack boasted, reeling Jazz in with what looked like another ghost invention. “And the Fenton Grappler works like a charm.”

Maddie watched her husband with a furrowed brow. “I don’t understand. If Jazz is a ghost, then why isn’t she phasing through the net?”

“Because I’m not a ghost!” Jazz shouted, tearing the net off herself. Her parents flinched at her rage. “You’ve ambushed me, suffocated me with smoke, and worse, I was pulled away from Spike before he had his breakthrough!” She glared at her parents. “What do you have to say for yourselves?”

Jack stared dumbly at her for a moment before holding up the Fenton Thermos he had shown Danny on the first day of school. “Eat thermos, ghost gal!” The inside of the thermos lit up like it was about to work, but shorted out. Frowning, Jack shook it. “Darn it. Dang thing still doesn’t work.”

* * *

Back in the cafeteria, Sam and Tucker hid behind an overturned table as they watched Phantom and Chat Noir fight the Lunch Lady.

“He’s getting better,” Tucker remarked, watching the two heroes. “The akuma fights seem to be good for extra practice.”

Sam nodded in agreement. “Yeah, but that doesn’t change the fact that this is a ghost and not an akuma. Can Ladybug even clean up this mess with her cure since it’s not an akuma’s fault?” She glanced around with a raised eyebrow. “Where is she anyway?”

Alya hurried into the cafeteria, phone already in hand and recording. She seemed surprised to find Sam and Tucker still there, but joined them behind their barricade regardless. “What are you guys still doing here?”

Sam narrowed her eyes at the blogger. “We could ask you the same thing.”

“I’m here to record the akuma fight. What else would I be here for?” Alya returned the annoyed tone.

Tucker raised a finger. “Actually, that’s not an akuma.”

“What?” Alya asked, taken by surprise.

“Tucker!” Sam hissed in his ear.

At that moment, Ladybug burst into the room, wielding her yo-yo. “I got some calls saying that today’s lunch came to life?”

Alya pointed her phone at the spotted hero, squealing. “Ooh, there’s Ladybug!” She recorded Ladybug jumping into the fray with the other heroes and swinging her yo-yo at the meat monster. Keeping her camera aimed at the fight, Alya glanced at Sam and Tucker. “What was that you were saying about that meat monster not being an akuma?”

Tucker, against Sam’s wishes, explained, “Remember how we split up to sneak into the kitchen yesterday before Lancer caught us? Well, we found that meat monster in there, only it wasn’t like that when we saw it. Before the meat monster, it was a ghost that looked like a lunch lady. Apparently it was called to Casper High because of Sam changing the menu, and was trying to set it back.” He peeked over the barricade, and saw Chat Noir smack the ghost with his baton, only for it to get stuck. When he tried to pry it out, the Lunch Lady pulled it out herself and threw it along with him against a wall.

Sam threw her hands up in a fit, but reluctantly added, “That’s why he, Tucker, and Marinette ditched while Lancer was punishing them. The Lunch Lady kidnapped me, and they came to rescue me.” She grinned internally when Danny gave the meat monster a kick to the side of its head.

Alya blinked at the explanation she was given. “…That explains a lot about yesterday.”

Tucker looked like he was about to say something else, but that was before the spectators witnessed the Lunch Lady punching Phantom towards the ceiling. Before he could hit it, he went intangible and phased through.

“I hope Phantom can take a punch,” Sam commented with a wince.

Ladybug and Chat Noir also happened to see their teammate be punched, which gave the spotted heroine an idea.

“The monster’s too big to fight in here,” she said to Chat Noir. “We need to take this outside. Can you make us a door?”

Chat grinned at her, readying his claw. “Can do, bugaboo! Cataclysm!” Dark energy bubbled in his right claw. “Cover me!”

Ladybug spun her yo-yo in a shield, letting Chat Noir rush across the room while she blocked the Lunch Lady’s blobs of meat.

“What’s he doing?” Tucker stared at the cat hero in confusion.

Chat Noir slapped his right claw on the wall, and the dark energy transferred from claw to surface. It spread across the wall, turning all the bricks black and making them collapse.

* * *

“Okay, so you’re not a ghost,” Jack admitted while Jazz glared at her father. “But, sweetie, you have to admit that ghost kid is out there. What if he took over your body or something?”

Jazz rolled her eyes. “I think I would know if a ghost was possessing me, Dad.”

There was a sound of crumbling brick, the noise startling Jack into dropping the thermos, and Maddie was the first to notice it. “What’s that noise?”

The family turned to find an answer for the source, but since the fight was taking place on the other side of the school, they didn’t see anything.

* * *

Once the hole was made, Chat Noir gave a sarcastic bow to Ladybug. “My lady, want to show our uninvited guest the door?”

“Gladly, kitty,” Ladybug leaped over by him. She waved her arms above her head. “Hey, barbecue blob! Over here!”

Just like they planned, the Lunch Lady followed them out into the daylight. Just in time for Phantom to return by slamming into the ghost. The impact was strong enough to send the meat scattering into several smaller piles that let off orange smoke.

Alya, Sam, and Tucker cautiously approached the hole in the wall and continued to watch the fight.

Ladybug and Chat Noir approached the crater, and saw Phantom climbing out.

“You okay, Phantom? That was quite the re-entry,” Chat Noir asked, leaning against his staff.

“Yeah, just a little sore.” Phantom rubbed at his arm.

A beep rang out from Chat Noir’s ring.

“You only have four minutes left,” Ladybug noted, seeing a paw print disappear.

“Quite true, dear,” the team turned and found a smaller version of the meat monster confronting them. “You only have four minutes left- to live!” She roared, raising a hand.

The small meat piles around the team moved, morphing into even smaller versions of the meat monster.

“Uh, Ladybug? I think now might be a good time to figure out how to end this fight,” Chat Noir said as the team took battle stances.

Phantom readied his fists. “Yeah, especially considering this is a ghost and not an akuma.”

Ladybug smiled at her teammates. “Good idea, boys.” She spun her yo-yo into the air. “Lucky Charm!”

In her hands fell a red and black spotted cylinder?

“A thermos?” She mused aloud, getting her teammates’ attention. “What am I supposed to do with this?”

Phantom glanced at her sharply. “Wait, did you say thermos?”

“Watch it!” Chat Noir jumped in front of Phantom, swinging his baton and batting away one of the meat minions.

Ladybug looked up at Phantom. “That’s what the Lucky Charm gave me. I don’t get… it…” In her vision, Phantom became checkered with red and black spots like the thermos. She gazed at the Lunch Lady, and then the thermos. “Phantom, I think the Lucky Charm is telling me you know what to do.” She grinned. “Of course! Chat and I use Miraculous and we have the powers more useful for defeating akumas, so that means you must have some way of stopping the ghost since you have ghost powers.”

Phantom understood what she was getting at, and gestured for the thermos. “Give it here.” Once she passed it to him, he eyed it for a moment and tried to remember why using a thermos to defeat a ghost sounded familiar…

Phantom’s eyes shot open. “That’s it! I know how to stop the Lunch Lady.” Passing the thermos back, he inquired, “Can you two handle her for a minute? I need to get something.”

Another beep rang out from Chat Noir’s ring.

“Better make it quick. I’m down to three,” the cat hero said.

Nodding, Phantom flew off around the corner.

“Wait, where’s he going?” Alya followed his flight path with her phone.

“Alya!” Sam cried out, pulling the blogger back before one of the meat minions could attack them.

It snarled at them, crouching to try again, but a yo-yo string looped around its midsection.

“Sorry little guy,” Ladybug teased, yanking it back. “But they don’t want what you’re dishing out.”

Phantom was prepared to make a quick flight home, but to his surprise, his parents were already at the school. Silently grateful he didn’t have to go far, he dove down by them. He spotted the Fenton Thermos laying on the grass, and scooped it up while phasing through the ground.

“Thanks for the thermos!” He called out, not wanting them to get a close look at him and figure out his identity.

“The ghost kid!” exclaimed Jack in surprise.

Jazz groaned, tilting her head to the sky. “Back to square one…”

* * *

“I’m down to two, Ladybug!” Chat Noir spun his baton around, shielding him from a large clump of meat.

“Down to four! Don’t worry, Phantom should be back soon.” Ladybug kicked at Lunch Lady’s legs.

“You children call these attacks?” Lunch Lady snarled. “You’re so weak! Put more meat into your diet!”

Chat Noir stopped fighting to point at the meat monster. “I’ll have you know my nutritionist made my diet plan so I have as much meat as I need.” A meat minion jumped at him, forcing him to dodge.

Phantom phased out of the ground with the Fenton Thermos in hand. The Lunch Lady saw the thermos, and growled.

“No! Soup is not on today’s menu!” She raged.

“I’m changing the menu!” Phantom shot back. “Permanently!” He added in a whisper to the thermos, “Please work…”

Taking the lid off and pointing it at the enemy, he focused on trying to capture the ghost. His hands glowed blue for a moment, and then blue light shot out from the thermos itself. The light formed a net, which surrounded the Lunch Lady.

“Nooooooo!” The Lunch Lady struggled as her ghostly form was ripped out of the meat monster and sucked into the thermos. Once Phantom was sure she was inside, he twisted the lid back on and the thermos went inert.

The meat minions and the main meat monster turned lifeless, dropping into piles of unmoving food.

“Ladybug, your cure!” Phantom shouted to the spotted heroine. “Can it reverse damage from a ghost attack?”

Ladybug smiled at him from where she had been fighting one of the meat minions. “I can try. Miraculous Ladybug!” She tossed the spotted thermos up, and it spread out in the form of magical ladybugs. The swarm rounded up all the meat, and distributed it neatly onto the tables in the cafeteria as if a cook-out was being held. After that, the wall that Chat Noir had broken down was restored. [6]

“Looks like we have an answer,” Chat noted, seeing the damage repaired.

“Pound it!” The three heroes bumped fists, and then Chat Noir’s ring beeped again.

“You’re down to a minute. Go, Chat!” Ladybug ordered.

Chat Noir gave a cheeky salute. “Right. See you guys at the next akuma attack, or ghost attack if these become a regular thing now too.”

Using his staff, he vaulted away.

“That was amazing!” Alya gushed, approaching Ladybug and Phantom with Sam and Tucker behind her. “I can’t believe I got footage of Amity Park’s heroes fighting a ghost! Ghosts are real? This is going to be a really big scoop for the Ladyblog.” Alya typed rapidly on her phone, already drafting an article.

“Are you all okay?” Ladybug asked the three spectators. “It was really dangerous of you to hang around like that.”

“We’re fine,” Sam answered before pointing to Ladybug’s earrings, “but you won’t be if you stay for a few more minutes.” Ladybug’s earrings beeped as she pointed at them. “You’re going to change back soon.”

Ladybug put a hand to one ear appreciatively. “Thanks for the reminder. Stay safe now, this lady has to bug out.” Tossing her yo-yo, Ladybug swung away to find a private place to change back.

“I need to get going too,” Phantom added, shaking the thermos. “I need to figure out what to do with this.”

Tucker gave him a thumbs-up. “Great job with that, by the way. Good to know there’s a way to catch ghosts like Ladybug can catch akumas.”

“Yeah, really good to know.” Phantom glanced at the thermos fondly before flying off in a direction different from both Chat Noir and Ladybug.

Sam sighed in relief once the three students were alone. “I’m glad that’s over with, but I feel like we’re forgetting something.”

“Manson! Foley!” The shout of Mr. Lancer made Sam and Tucker jump.

* * *

Later that evening in the school cafeteria, Marinette and Danny were with Sam, Tucker, and Dash scrubbing down the room.

“I don’t get why we have to clean the place,” Tucker said to Marinette. “Ladybug already put things back to the way they were before.”

Marinette shrugged, dipping her sponge into a bucket and scrubbing the tile floor. “We did bail while he was giving us our punishments. It was for a good cause, but we still did it.”

Sam wiped down a table, frowning. “I’m just upset that the vegetarian week experiment is being shut down when it’s only been two days.”

“Sam, it caused a food fight and a ghost attack,” Danny pointed out. He jabbed a thumb over his shoulder at Dash. “At least he’s stuck doing this with us.” [7]

“There’s one thing I still don’t get,” Sam said. “The changes made to my proposal. Who could’ve done that?”

* * *

“Your dinner, Miss Chloe,” the Bourgeois family butler set a covered tray before Chloe at the penthouse suite’s dining table. He took off the cover, revealing an extravagant salad.

“Finally,” Chloe huffed, picking up a fork and beginning to dine. “This is much better than Manson’s garbage she tried to get served at school.” Lifting up a forkful of salad, she stared at it in a taunting fashion. “Sorry, Manson, but there’s only room for one student forcing the school board to make changes and that’s me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes! Beyond obviously fusing the two shows together, Marinette finding out about Phantom's true identity is one of the biggest divergences. Going in, I knew Marinette or Adrien would have to find out about Danny's ghost powers and become part of his friend group. Based on the story I want to tell and how character development works, it made sense for Marinette to be the one since she and Alya are trying to expand their friend circles beyond each other.
> 
> [1]- Ghost octopuses from the Mystery Meat opener.
> 
> [2]- A complaint about Sam’s character I’ve seen is her heavily pushing her agenda on other people. To reduce those complaints, I made her aware that not everyone will deep dive into vegetarianism right away and intended to start off with lighter options.
> 
> [3]- I think Plagg explained this one nicely later on in the chapter.
> 
> [4]- I know there was a food fight going on in canon, but it still bugged me how apparently no one saw the ghost fight going on in the kitchen when the window was apparently open.
> 
> [5]- The protests in canon seemed a little extreme for overnight planning and execution, so I made the protests more reasonable within time constraints and budget the protesters had.
> 
> [6]- Turns out Ladybug can fix ghost fights. But can she fix them all?
> 
> [7]- An example of my refusal to let Dash get away with his bullying unpunished.
> 
> Not as many notes this time. I know I've been consistently posting a new chapter each week so far, but now is where the wait gets long since the initial chapters are done. I want to build my chapter buffer back up and stay ahead of the game this time when I usually do not. Review in the box below, and remember reviews are awesome!


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